A Date With the Drum Major
by Arendelle's Drum Major
Summary: "How am I supposed to focus on marching when my drum major is a freaking goddess?" A college marching band AU Elsanna fic featuring trumpet!Anna, trombone!Kristoff and drum major!Elsa.
1. Auditions

_**A/N:**_ _So this is my first time publishing a fic for other people to see. Long story short, it's an Elsanna fic in which the two are in a college marching band, but the two aren't related here. Don't read it if you don't like it. The story is very loosely based on events of my own life (they say write what you know), but obviously most of it is fiction. All that being said, enjoy!_

_Edit: It has come to my attention that not everyone might know what a drum major is! I really should have known that, considering every time I tell non-band people that I'm a drum major, I get responses ranging from "wait, I didn't know you played drums" to "are you changing your major?" Since it would be rather silly for Anna in the story to not know what a drum major is, I'll explain it here: in a marching band, the drum major is the person who conducts the band. They are also, just in general, the leader, and they stand at the head of a parade and are also often in charge of running rehearsals. And, no, playing drums is not a requirement. _

* * *

"Alright, feisty pants, hope you're ready for this."

"I was _born_ ready!"

"Well then, welcome to your home for the next four years."

With that, Kristoff opened the door before him, gesturing for Anna to enter first. Smiling, she stepped by him and took in her surroundings. The room was smaller than she'd expected, but absolutely filled with energy. One of the walls of the room was covered in shelves filled to the brim with instrument cases, while another featured papers and drawings haphazardly attached to the walls. From the ceiling hung a few marching band uniforms all featuring the blue and white of Arendelle University. Some featured more recent designs, others looked like they belonged to bands of the 1960's. The paint seemed to be falling off in places and it looked like a ceiling tile was missing, but Anna simply thought it added to the charm of the room.

The inhabitants of the room (most of which were wearing blue) were spread out into different groups. Anna quickly observed that they were divided by instrument. Each group had a table and was involved in something or other—some animatedly talking, some eating snacks, some boisterously laughing and others involved in card games. Anna didn't notice that Kristoff was beside her until he spoke.

"It's uh… a bit of a mess sometimes, but…" He paused and shrugged, smiling, "well, the band room is home." Anna beamed at him.

"I'm so happy we get to be in band together again!" Kristoff opened his mouth to respond, but Anna continued on, seeming to not notice. "It was a lonely senior year with you having gone and graduated (and I know you must have been terribly bored without me), but now we're back in the same band and _oh_ this place really looks so lovely and exciting and I can't wait to get started!" Her eyes darted around the room, searching for the trumpet section. At that moment, one of the tables burst into laughter. She glanced over in that direction to see a couple of the individuals sitting at the table with trumpets in their laps. Kristoff, noticing the direction of her gaze, gave her a pat on the back.

"Go get em," he encouraged. "And try not to scare too many of them away. It's only day one." Her smirked down at Anna.

"Oh, shut up," she teased back at him, before heading over to the table. Upon seeing her approaching, a brown-haired man sitting at the table got to his feet.

"New blood?" he asked with a smirk. Anna nodded, her face bright. "Superb! The best section in the band can always use some new members." He closed the distance between them, shaking her hand. "My name's Eugene—"

"Who's Eugene?" interrupted the rest of the section in near-perfect unison.

"—but everyone here calls me Flynn," he continued as the rest of the section did an over-dramatic "Ohhhhhhhh" in the background. "I'm the trumpet section leader. And you are?"

"Anna." She gestured back toward Kristoff, who was currently making his way toward the trombone section. "Uhm, I went to high school with Kristoff. He's a sophomore."

"A member of one of the inferior sections, I see." Anna looked a bit hesitant, leading Flynn to laugh. "I'm only kidding around. Mostly. Trumpets are the best, but I'm sure you knew that already." He gave a wink and the smile returned to Anna's features.

"When's your audition?" asked someone at the table.

"2:30."

"Great, then you've got some time to hang out with us!" Flynn said, gesturing to an empty seat at the table. Anna cheerfully sat down, placing her trumpet case at her side. For the next few minutes, she chatted with the members of the trumpet section and found herself laughing alongside everyone else. It had only been a few minutes, but they were bantering with her as if she'd known them for years. _This is gonna be great, _she thought to herself.

2:30 rolled around and Anna got to her feet, trumpet in hand. Flynn gestured to a door over his shoulder. "Over there's where you go audition. Best of luck!"

"Try not to die!" joked someone else at the table. Anna made a face at him, leading to laughter. Her eyes twinkling with excitement, she made her way to the door. Just as she was about to turn the handle, she stopped. With an audible sigh, she mentally berated herself. _C'mon, you've done tons of auditions before. Now's not the time to get nervous._ After another moment's hesitation, she took a deep breath and turned the door.

She didn't know what she had been expecting, but this was most certainly not it.

The door led to a very small room—not much bigger than a closet, really. There were stacks of music everywhere—some of it looked organized, others not so much. The small desk to the side had an organizer with neatly stacked papers beside a laptop. But Anna missed all of this detail—she was too focused looking at the woman sitting across the room.

In a simple blue folding chair stat an absolutely stunning woman. Her platinum-blonde hair was tied into a single braid that was draped over her left shoulder. Her bangs were pushed back, allowing her icy blue eyes to be seen clearly. She was dressed in a simple blue t-shirt in the same way that the other band members had been, yet somehow it still made her look absolutely dazzling. Around her neck was a simple blue lanyard attached to a silver whistle. Anna was part way reading through the text on the shirt (it became quickly obvious that the shirt was designed for the marching band) when she was interrupted by a small, polite voice.

"If you wouldn't mind closing the door, we can start the audition."

Jolted out of her daze, Anna felt a blush begin to creep up her cheeks as she quickly shut the door behind her. "Uhm, sorry," she said lamely. The other woman got to her feet, stretching out a hand.

"My name's Elsa. I'm the drum major of the Arendelle University marching band." The words barely registered in Anna's brain as the two shook hands. Finally, Anna found her voice, and the first words that she could think of tumbled out of her mouth.

"I thought I'd be auditioning in front of the band director." _Why did you say that? That was stupid. What are you doing? Stop. It's not like you've never seen a pretty girl before. _Anna pulled her hand back from the handshake, moving her hand to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear—her usual nervous tic. For her part, Elsa smiled.

"Oh, we don't actually have a band director here. We're an entirely student-run organization."

"Oh." _Great job with the whole words thing, kiddo. Doing great._ There was another pause, then Elsa gestured to a seat facing the one she'd been sitting in earlier.

"Have a seat," she encouraged. Not trusting herself to speak anymore, Anna silently obliged. In front of her seat was a music stand with a couple sheets of music.

"Anna," the redhead suddenly blurted out. "I'm—ah—my name's Anna." Elsa gave another disarming smile.

"It's very nice to meet you, Anna," she said sincerely before reaching over to grab the laptop that was on the desk beside her. Anna held her breath as she heard Elsa type four quick letters—A-N-N-A. After finishing this, the drum major glanced up. Taking on a more serious tone, yet still smiling warmly, she asked, "Could you play a concert B flat scale for me?"

"One octave or two?" Anna mentally facepalmed. _Geeze, do you actually think through your words before you say them? _

"Whatever you're comfortable with." _She's being as polite and calm and friendly as possible and you're _still_ acting so freaking jittery! Focus!_

Inhaling, Anna brought her trumpet to her lips and played, going for two octaves in an attempt to prove herself. She was dismayed when her attempt at the top note fell flat. _Great, now you look like an idiot. How many times have you played a high C before? _Unintentionally, Anna's nonverbal thoughts suddenly became vocalized. "I'm sorry, I usually hit that note—I guess I'm just a bit rusty. I didn't get the chance to play too much over the summer and I prepared for this audition, I really did, but with all the excitement of moving in over the past couple days I haven't gotten a chance to play and I know I can hit that note." She looked over at the seated drum major, who continued to wait patiently through her rant. This time, she did an actual facepalm. "And now I'm babbling." This elicited a laugh from the older girl, causing her to bring her hand in front of her mouth. _Goodness that's adorable._

"It's fine, really. You're doing better than plenty of the other players we have. Now, if you could take a look at the music on the stand and give that piece a go, that would be great. Just play the measures marked." She was so calm. So collected. Doing everything she could to make Anna feel comfortable. So _perfect._

"Alright," she finally managed. "I'm not always the best at sight reading, but I promise I can get any piece down if you give me the time to work on it."

"Just do what you can," Elsa said, eyes twinkling with amusement. _Oh geeze. Stop looking at her. Look at the music. C'mon. _Taking another deep breath, Anna began to play the music written on the page. It was a short piece called _Summit Siege_, and Anna was convinced she played nearly everything out of rhythm and gotten all the notes wrong by the time she reached the end of the designated measures. Yet, when she looked up, Elsa was still smiling, looking directly at her and ignoring the laptop in front of her.

"Wonderful. Well, that's all I really need you for. Do you have any questions you'd like to ask?"

A million questions flew through Anna's head, but she heard herself answer, "No."

"Well, I look forward to seeing you around this year."

"I—uhm—thanks!" _You dolt she probably says that to everyone. Calm down. _"I look forward to seeing you, too!" _Dear lord why do you even bother talking? _Silence hung in the air between the two of them before Anna realized Elsa was probably waiting for her to leave. She felt her face redden slightly as she quickly turned around and exited the small room, shutting the door behind her. As she walked away from the door she swore she once again heard a small laugh that sounded like the chiming of a bell. Attempting to regain her composure, she made her way back to the other trumpet players where she was met by a round of applause. Once again back in her comfort zone, she gave a couple over-dramatic bows. "Thank you, thank you, you're too much."

Flynn grinned at her. "Well done, you've passed the first test. Welcome to the trumpet section! If you're not busy, feel free to stay and chat with us." Anna once again took a seat at the table, but this time she was only half paying attention to the conversation around her. Her head was still spinning from the audition. Hundreds of thoughts were flying through her head, but there was one that dominated over the rest.

_I wonder if I'll get the chance to talk to her again._


	2. Band camp

_**A/N**__: Wow, I didn't expect my weird little story to get this much attention at all. You guys are great. I've been busy the past few days with band stuff (go figure), but here's the next chapter!_

* * *

"Alright everyone, time for basics!"

There was an audible groan from nearly everyone present, but Elsa seemed undeterred.

"I know it's not everyone's favourite," she admitted, "but it's important to work on basics in order for us to look our best. Now! Everyone in block formation."

Anna quickly scrambled to find a spot on a yardline, taking a position at the back of the rank so she wouldn't have to be seen from the front. She found herself standing beside Kristoff, who made a face of mock annoyance, mouthing "_screw basics."_ Anna giggled.

"Detail to the ready," Elsa called, snapping Anna back to reality. She put her feet shoulder-width apart, hands crossed in front of her and head tipped downwards. A sharp whistle blast pierced the air, quickly followed by, "At-ten-HUT!"

"HUT!" chorused the band, everyone snapping to attention in (near-perfect) unison. Anna heard Kristoff chuckle behind her—she'd been a little slow on the uptake.

"I know it's a little different from our call to attention in high school, but you get used to it," he said, just loud enough for her to hear. Anna decided not to mention that her reason for being slow on the uptake was a result of her being captivated by the authoritativeness of Elsa's voice. The voice that had been so calm and encouraging during auditions had changed into one of confidence.

"Mark time, march!" One of the assistant drum majors standing beside Elsa began to tap out a rhythm on a gock as the band began to march in place. "Left… face!" In two quick steps, the band members were all facing the front sideline where Elsa stood with her two assistants. "Left slide march!" Immediately following the command, the band stepped off, marching down the field. Anna winced as she missed the step off as a result of letting her gaze linger on Elsa for too long. She quickly shuffled to get in step, her face a mask of pure concentration. _Focus. C'mon. You know this._

Elsa drilled the band in basic commands for a while. Anna soon got into the rhythm of things, though she did still find herself messing up on occasion. She never was the most coordinated of marchers anyways. Finally, after calling them to a halt, Elsa called, "Band, about face!" and the band turned to face the back sideline, causing Anna to now be at the front of her rank. Elsa and her two assistants made their way to the back sideline, the smallest of smirks on her face. "Now, it hardly seemed fair for all of you to be in the back for all of the drills—here's your chance to shine!"

_Nooooo no no no why is this happening! _Anna mentally panicked, _Now I'm at the front of the rank and she'll see all my mistakes and she's _RIGHT THERE _I can't focus if she's right there._ The more rational part of Anna's brain quickly berated her. _You dolt, stop letting a pretty (okay, gorgeous) girl distract you. You know how to do this. Now do it!_

As the mask of concentration once again fell over Anna's face, her heart sank as she realized a command had already been given out and the band was in motion. She quickly recovered, refusing to look in the direction of the drum major for fear she'd lose her focus again.

After her initial fumble, she executed the rest of the commands with well-trained precision. _Looks like four years of marching band actually meant something._ As the band was brought to a halt, Anna decided it was acceptable for her to steal a glance at Elsa. She looked over in the direction of the older girl to see that the drum major was staring right at her. Her heart fluttered and her face reddened as she quickly snapped back to attention.

"Parade rest!" Elsa called out, causing everyone to relax their stances. "Alright everyone, great job! Go ahead and grab lunch and then meet in the band room by one-thirty for music rehearsal." With a smile, she turned and walked off, her two assistants close behind her.

Anna realized she'd been staring when Kristoff suddenly clapped her on the back, releasing her from Elsa's captivating spell. "Wow, I'm impressed, you've gotten much better at marching since high school."

_That's because I didn't have anyone to impress until now. _"I uh, yeah… practiced a lot more." The excuse sounded lame even to her but Kristoff seemed to pay it no mind.

"Well, hope you're enjoying band camp because we've got two more days of this insanity." _I don't mind. It's more time to see her._ Anna once again chose not to vocalize her thoughts, and instead groaned over-dramatically.

"Oh the horrors of band camp!" she wailed, placing the back of her hand to her forehead. "Shall I ever endure these trials? Will I ever make it into the elite Arendelle University Marching Band?"

Anna heard someone chuckling behind her and turned to see none other than Flynn. She quickly directed a chipper greeting at him, which he responded to, adding, "The trumpet section was planning on going and getting lunch together. Care to join us?"

"Oh, sure!" chimed Anna. As she bounded off in the direction of Flynn, she mouthed a silent apology to her childhood friend. He waved it off with a smile as he headed in the direction of his own section.

As the trumpet section made its way to a nearby dining hall, Anna was eagerly interacting with everyone. There was one girl with wild, curly, fiery red hair named Merida. Like Anna, Merida was a freshman. The two redheads took a liking to one another immediately. When they arrived at the hall, Anna reached into her pocket to get out her ID…

…and promptly realized she'd forgotten it in the band room.

"Crap crap crap," muttered Anna, her face falling as she brought her palm to her forehead. "I forgot my ID in the band room!" Before Merida could get in a word, Anna quickly turned around, shouting a quick, "I'll meet up with you guys in a bit—I need to go get my ID from the band room!"

"D' you want me to come with you?" Merida called, her voice coloured by a Scottish accent.

"No, that's fine, I remember the way back. Probably." The last part was said under her breath as she jogged away in the direction she was approximately 90% certain the band room was in.

Luckily, she remembered correctly. Breathing a sigh of relief when she turned the handle and the door was unlocked, Anna quickly made her way into the room, her eyes scanning everywhere to locate her bag. However, her eyes quickly settled on something else: a certain blonde drum major who was now looking at Anna in confusion.

"Oh, hello, Anna." _She remembered my name she remembered my name oh my goodness she remembered my name!_ Another moment passed before Anna recalled that this was usually the moment that she would respond to a greeting.

"You remembered my name!" _Great going. A true master of conversation you are._ "Ah—that is—I mean, h-hello." Amusement shone in Elsa's eyes as she stifled a small giggle.

"I work hard to make sure that I know everyone's names," she said with a smile. _Not just your name. You're not special or something. Calm down._ Unaware of Anna's unspoken thoughts, Elsa continued, "I mean, everyone knows mine, so I'd feel bad not knowing everyone else."

"That's really thoughtful of you! I've had drum majors that have been so obsessed with themselves that they never even tried getting to know everyone," Anna said sincerely, furrowing her brow in concentration as she thought back. "I'm pretty sure all my sophomore-year drum major said to me was 'at-ten-HUT.'"

This elicited another laugh from the older girl, causing Anna to relax slightly. "That sounds absolutely horrid."

"Oh, well, with how much I messed up, it's just as well he didn't know me personally," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. For her part, Elsa continued to smile at her. _I want to make her smile like that all the time._

Silence hung in the air between the two of them (though Anna didn't notice as she was, once again, too busy drinking in the older girl's appearance. _It's unfair that she can make a t-shirt and jeans look so good._) for a few moments before Elsa asked, "So, what brings you to the band room during lunch?"

"Hm? Oh!" exclaimed Anna in surprise as she remembered her initial task. "Right! I left my student ID in my bag so I couldn't get into the dining hall because you need to swipe your student ID to get into the dining halls and—why am I explaining this to you? You already knew that—I'm back here because I wanted to eat food so I needed my ID." Anna was babbling. She realized she was babbling. And she also realized she couldn't stop herself from babbling. Thankfully, Elsa spoke up, finally causing Anna to cease her rambling.

"Well, I'm sure the trumpets are having a rather dull lunch without your presence, so you better find your ID quick so you can catch up with them." She spoke the words so calm and slow, a stark contrast to Anna's frantic speech. Anna couldn't help but be jealous of the drum major's composure.

"Right! That! That's a thing I should do!" Anna quickly located her bag and, after tripping slightly on an instrument case that had been left out (she swore she heard Elsa laugh at her antics), retrieved her ID. "I'll see you later?" She'd intended the sentence to be a declaration, but found herself turning it into a question. A smile tugged at the corner of Elsa's lips.

"Of course."

Anna gave one last wave before she walked out of the room, her heart pounding. She took one last glance through the tiny window in the door to see Elsa still looking at her. Face reddening slightly, Anna dashed off to catch up with the other trumpets.

After lunch, Anna and her fellow trumpets were made their way back to the band room for music rehearsal. She entered the room to hear a cacophony of sounds—people playing scales or warm ups or songs from past marching band shows. It was, altogether, a dissonant mess that left Anna grinning like an idiot.

She quickly got her own trumpet—a silver-plated Xeno with gold valve tops—and joined in on the mess of sounds, determined to hit the high C that had eluded her earlier during auditions.

Suddenly, a shrill whistle blast pierced through all of the sound in the room. "At-ten-HUT!" came the command, crisp and clear.

"HUT!" chorused the band, all turning to the podium, thoughts of fiddling around on their instruments forgotten. _Only Elsa could silence an entire band so easily._

"Alright, it's time to start the first music rehearsal of band camp!" A few members of the band gave small cheers while others laughed in amusement at the former group. "Section leaders, please hand out the music to your sections so we can get started."

Anna looked over to see Flynn walking around and passing out music to the members of the trumpet section (some of which were sitting atop one of the shelves used for instrument storage), careful as to which part he was handing out to each member. She cringed inwardly at the memory of her audition. _Well, here's to playing trumpet 3 for a year. It's alright, I'm sure I'll be able to prove myself and get back on trumpet 1. I'm only a freshman after all._

Anna was still lost in thought by the time Flynn got to her. "Here you go," he said, handing her a small folder of music. She accepted it with a polite "thank you" and a smile, trying her best to mask any disappointment. Her disappointment quickly turned into surprise when she read the folder.

"Trumpet 1?" she asked, shocked. "Really?" Flynn nodded, grinning.

"You bet. Elsa told me you did great in auditions. As I said, we can always use another great player in our section. Though don't you go taking any solos from me." He winked and continued on passing out music. Anna was still staring at the folder, flabbergasted. She glanced up at the blonde drum major who was patiently waiting atop the podium for everyone to get their music.

_She thought I did great._

_ She thought _I _did great._

At some point, Elsa glanced in her direction, causing Anna to quickly redirect her gaze to the folder in front of her. The rest of the music rehearsal was a blur as Anna repeated that same thought over and over in her head.

_Elsa, drum major of the Arendelle University marching band, thought I did great._


	3. Trumpet House

_**A/N:**__ Apologies for taking a bit of a break to write some one shots for Elsanna week. There's a bit of band terminology here when describing the uniform, so apologies for that. Google search shako and/or flocked cavalier hat for pictures, if you're interested. Your reviews are my life's blood and I get absurdly excited every time I see a new one. All that said, enjoy!_

* * *

Band camp was over and classes had started up. Anna found herself spending as much time in the band room as she did in her own dorm. Kristoff was right—that place was basically home. This week, everyone was being fitted for uniforms, which made Anna practically jump with delight. After four years of wearing her high school's uniform, getting a new one was an incredibly exciting experience. The Arendelle University marching band uniforms were a regal blue on the left arm and upper left part of the uniform with a striking sash of white trimmed with light blue that widened as it extended from the right shoulder to just above the left hip. Beneath the sash, the remainder of the top was black, as was the right arm and the pants. Both the sleeves ended in black—there was ring of white a few inches from the end of the sleeve separating the cuffs from the remainder of the sleeve. From the right shoulder protruded a half-cape that was blue on top and white underneath. On the left, just above the breast there was a small symbol of a white wolf jumping through the letter A—the logo of the Arendelle University Winter Wolves. What delighted Anna the most were the hats—instead of the bucket-like shakos worn by her high school marching band, the Arendelle University marching band wore black flocked cavalier hats that had a blue band and a white plume just tumbling over the edge of the brim.

"These are so much cooler than what we had in high school," gushed Anna to Kristoff, cavalier hat in hand. She placed it on her head with a grin. "I feel so dashing!"

"You look rather dashing," came a cool voice from behind her. Anna turned to see Elsa dressed in the drum major's uniform, whistle around her neck. The drum major uniform was similar to the uniform the rest of the band members wore, except every instance of black on the ordinary uniforms was white on the drum major's uniform. There were smaller other things, too—Elsa's sash was simply light blue instead of white trimmed with light blue, she had a ring of black on her cuffs instead of a ring of white, her cavalier hat was white with a blue plume—but these were of small importance to Anna as her brain registered what she'd just heard. A blush crept its way onto her freckled face at the compliment.

"R-really? I mean, it's rather hard to look nice in band uniforms—they're not terribly flattering, after all. It's a difficult look to pull off… But, I mean, you look great in your uniform!" _Oh god did I really just say that out loud? _Anna felt her face heat up even more. Elsa simply smiled at the younger girl.

"Why, thank you, Anna," said Elsa sincerely as she donned her white gloves. _She used my name again. Why does my name sound so much nicer when she says it? _Anna remained silent as Elsa and Kristoff cordially greeted one another, and then Elsa was gone again. Anna wasn't lying when she said that uniforms weren't flattering—they made it impossible to see any curves or any assets one might have. But she also wasn't lying when she said Elsa looked great. She looked _stunning_ in fact. Something about the uniform, something about the authority it indicated, was _extremely_ attractive to Anna. And to see it worn by a woman who was already dazzlingly beautiful with eyes that perfectly matched the blue of the uniform… well, suffice to say Anna's heart rate had increased significantly.

Kristoff raised an eyebrow at his friend who was still watching Elsa walk away. He glanced toward Elsa's retreating form, then back at Anna.

"Oh, don't tell me you're crushing on the drum major," he said, his voice coloured by a tone of amusement. The blush that Anna had earlier was nothing compared to the one she had now.

"W-what?" she stammered, "O-of course not." She huffed and crossed her arms, averting her gaze. Kristoff chuckled at the rather adorable display.

"If you insist. I wouldn't blame you if you did." He shrugged. "I mean, who wouldn't want to date the drum major—and a nice looking one at that?" The fact that Anna's face was now as red as her hair succeeding in confirming his earlier hypothesis. Seeing his friend's embarrassed state, Kristoff decided to continue. "Too bad there's no hope for me. She's into girls."

Anna's head perked up, her teal eyes meeting Kristoff's. "How do you know that?" she asked all too quickly. Kristoff smirked.

"Oh, last year she dated some girl in the mellophone section. The only reason I knew about it is I saw the two of them break up during a party. I'd stumbled outside to go take a piss out back—"

"_Kristoff,_ that's gross!"

"—and I heard voices and looked over to see the two of them talking and I picked up on enough of the conversation to get what it was about. There was a bit of yelling and a bit of crying and then the two left in opposite directions." Anna looked contemplative, biting her lip and clearly deep in thought. Her eyes were flicking from Kristoff to the floor to the direction Elsa had left and back again to Kristoff.

"Well that's all well and good," she finally said, fighting to control her tone and sound calm, "but irrelevant to me. I don't have a crush on her." There was a pause and Kristoff opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could speak Anna quickly added, "And if even if I did it wouldn't matter. She's a senior and I'm a freshman." _And she's not just any senior. She's the freaking drum major, for cryin' out loud. You're lucky she gives you the time of the day._

Kristoff, an expression of concern on his face, reached over and gave his friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You don't give yourself enough credit." Anna smiled in appreciation, bringing him into a hug.

"I kinda wish I'd seen them making out instead of breaking up," mused Kristoff, his expression thoughtful.

"Stop ruining the nice friendship moment."

"It would have been hot."

"Aaaaand you've ruined the nice friendship moment. Goodbye. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200," said Anna, detaching herself from Kristoff and walking away, a small smirk on her features that mirrored the one on Kristoff's. _It's nice to have that idiot back._

As Anna was folding her uniform pants and placing them on a hanger, she was approached by Flynn. "Hey there, Anna," he greeted her with a wave of his hand.

"Hey, Flynn!" she chimed with a smile. "What's up?"

"You busy tonight?"

"No, why?"

"A few of the trumpets were planning on stopping by Trumpet House tonight and playing a couple drinking games. It'll be a small affair, nothing like next weekend's party. You're coming to that, right?"

Anna nodded her head enthusiastically. "Of course! I'm so excited."

"You're also not the one who has to clean it up in the morning. So, you in for tonight?"

She nodded again. "Sure, sounds like fun!" Flynn grinned.

"Great, I'll meet you and the other underclassmen by the clocktower around nine. I'll then walk you guys down to Trumpet House—it's about a ten minute walk from campus. See you then."

Anna waved as Flynn headed off to go talk to the other trumpets. From what Anna had been told, Trumpet House was a small house off campus where several members of the trumpet section, including Flynn, lived. It also was host to all of the all-band parties. Kristoff also informed her that most other sections had their own houses, but none were as infamous as Trumpet House. No other section was insane enough to host 150 drunken bandies.

The day went by and Anna found herself on the way to Trumpet House. She had a lot of different images in her head as to what the place would look like—people had certainly talked it up enough. Finally, they arrived. Anna looked over the house. From the outside, it didn't appear to be anything noteworthy. There was a small front porch with a chair atop its roof and an unstable-looking ladder placed nearby for easy access. Instead of opening the door to the front porch, Flynn merely stepped through the opening where glass would normally be. "Mind the step," he said, grinning. The rest of the group followed suit. Anna noticed a couple of worn couches on the porch that looked like they hadn't been cleaned in quite a while.

"Welcome to Trumpet House!" Flynn gestured broadly as he opened the door. The entryway led to a living room where there were a few more old sofas (though they looked a little nicer than the ones outside) and a long table that was, in actuality, a large piece of wood supported by two small bedside tables. On the walls were a few street signs hung at odd angles, undoubtedly stolen, as well as a rusty old trumpet. The words "trumpets rule!" were carved into the top of the doorframe, and the bannister that ran along the flight of stairs to the right was missing a few posts. At the other end of the room was a TV with a Nintendo 64 set up in front. Anna found herself smiling as the words that Kristoff used to describe the band room echoed through her head.

_It's a bit of a mess, but it's home._

Anna took to Trumpet House immediately. Yes, it was a bit dirty and disorganized, but more than anything it was incredibly charming. A woman with long blonde hair descended down the stairwell. "Oh, wonderful, all of the new trumpets are here!" she chimed, a bright smile on her face. "I'm Rapunzel, one of the saxophone section leaders. Eugene's my boyfriend." Anna couldn't help but note the adorable way Flynn's face lit up as his girlfriend approached. Flynn quickly turned back to the rest of the group.

"C'mon, let's get started!"

They played a variety of drinking games. Some typical ones like beer pong (which Anna soon discovered she was not too great at), and then some other ones that Anna had never heard of. She took an immediate liking to a game known as drunk driving. It involved playing a game of Mario Kart where you had to finish your beer before you finished the race, but you couldn't drink and drive at the same time (naturally). Anna was careful to limit herself to only a few drinks, but all the same found herself getting rather giggly after her third game of drunk driving. Her head felt light—a not altogether unpleasant sensation. She found herself sitting on a couch with Rapunzel, chatting with the older girl about nothing of particular importance but nonetheless enjoying the conversation.

"Out of curiosity, what's with the blonde streak in your hair?" asked Rapunzel, gesturing to one of Anna's braids. A shock of platinum blonde hair was woven into Anna's natural red hair.

"Oh, I had this rebellious period near the end of senior year." Anna giggled slightly as she spoke. "It was really a huge joke. I was going to have a blue streak but then my friends and I only ever got to the bleaching part before my parents found out. They kinda flipped. I then apologized a ton because I honestly didn't think it'd upset them that much, then they apologized for flipping, and we just kind of left it at that. I decided I was a fan of the blonde streak and left it that way. So much for being rebellious." As she spoke, she absentmindedly fiddled with the charm on her necklace.

"Is that a trumpet necklace?" inquired Rapunzel. Anna glanced down as if to check, then grinned sheepishly. _Of course I know it's a trumpet necklace. _

"Mhmm. Kristoff got it for me a year or so ago for my birthday. I wear it every day."

"You two dating?" Rapunzel's expression was eager, undoubtedly searching for gossip. Anna laughed and gave a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Naw, we're just best buds. Like a brotp." Anna blinked in surprise, then made a confused face. "Whoops, that was a really nerdy thought to say out loud." Rapunzel laughed.

"Kristoff and Anna brotp? I'd ship it." A grin spread across Anna's face at the realization that Rapunzel evidently frequented the internet as often as she did. The two continued to chat animatedly until there was a knock at the door. Before someone could answer the knock, the door opened and in stepped a few more band members, greeting the inhabitants of the room with a wave. Anna felt her heart rate quicken.

Elsa was there.

As per usual, she had a smile on her face, though this one seemed just so slightly lopsided. She was wearing a black vest over a low-cut dress shirt. The combo accentuated her features _very_ nicely. On her legs were a pair of dark skinny jeans that led down to a pair of black boots. A pair of dangling snowflake earrings framed her face. Her hair was once again tied back into a single braid, but her bangs were hanging in front of her face, the casualness of it contrasting sharply with her smart attire.

_Hot damn. And you thought she looked nice in a t-shirt and jeans._

Rapunzel got to her feet to greet the drum major, and Anna found herself doing the same thing.

"Elsa! Good to see you!" Rapunzel said, pulling Elsa into a hug.

"Good to see you too, Rapunzel," replied Elsa. The two hugged for a few moments more before breaking apart. "How's your evening been?"

"Great! I've been getting to know Anna here," she said, gesturing in Anna's direction. Elsa's smile grew when she saw Anna. It took Anna's foggy brain a moment longer than usual to process the situation, but next thing she knew Elsa had pulled her into a hug.

"Good to see you, Anna." The feel of Elsa's breath so close to her made Anna shudder.

"Ah… good to see you, too, Elsa!" she finally managed. The two hugged for a bit longer (_She hasn't broken away from me yet. This seems like a longer hug than normal. Is this a longer hug than normal?_) before Elsa stepped back, the serene smile still on her face. She reached up a hand to push back her bangs. The action caused Anna's stomach to do somersaults. _Dear LORD she is attractive oh my god how do I form sentences am I supposed to form sentences right now oh god I'm totally staring stop staring stop staring!_

Despite her inner monologue, Anna's gaze remained transfixed on Elsa. The older girl seemed not to notice how her actions were affecting the young trumpet freshman. Instead, she turned her attention to Flynn, who was quickly closing the distance between the two of them. The two embraced.

"Elsa! What brings Her Majesty the drum major down to the slums of Trumpet House?"

Elsa laughed. "Just because I'm drum major now doesn't mean I don't enjoy your company any more, Flynn." The two pulled away from the hug. _My hug was totally longer than that. _

"We're gonna start up another game of drunk driving, care to join?" Elsa shook her head.

"No, I've never been terribly good at that game."

"That's half the fun!" said Flynn with a grin.

"I'm sorry, I'll still have to decline." She smiled apologetically.

Rapunzel dashed over to the TV. "I'll play! Hope you're ready to have your ass kicked, Eugene." He looked stricken.

"Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into?" This led to laughter from most of the room. Anna made her way back to a couch where she could sit down and watch the game. Just as she sat down, Elsa also walked over to the couch, sitting delicately on the armrest of the couch, right beside Anna. The younger girl's heart skipped a beat. _She's sitting next to me. She could have chosen somewhere else to sit but she chose next to me. Or maybe she didn't think this whole sitting thing through that far and just picked somewhere random to sit that just happens to be near me and I'm totally overthinking this whole thing but what if she didn't just sit randomly what if she wanted to sit next to me…_

"Anna?" Anna snapped out of her thoughts and glanced up to see Elsa looking down at her, an inquisitive expression on her face that was impossibly adorable.

"Yes?" she said after taking a moment to remember how to speak.

"I asked you about the blonde streak in your hair. Did you not hear me?"

_No, I was too busy having a mental philosophical debate as to why you chose to sit beside me. _"Oh, uhm it was a thing I did at the end of my senior year in high school. It was silly. I was gonna dye it blue but then a thing happened and I only got to bleaching it and decided it looked fine that way… so yeah," she finished lamely. _You told this story literally ten minutes ago. Good job making it sound really stupid the second time through. _

"Well, I think it looks really nice," Elsa said, reaching out her hand to stroke Anna's hair. The younger girl froze up completely.

_Oh my god she's touching my hair. Don't make it weird, she probably touches other people's hair. Band people are pretty touchy-feely. Oh I don't want this moment to end. Do something to let her know that this isn't weirding you out and that you appreciate it so she won't stop but you can't do something that makes you move too much or else she'll stop and you also shouldn't do something weird so that _she_ gets weirded out and stops stroking your hair. _Anna's mind, drunk off Elsa's touch as well as the alcohol, decided that tilting her head up and smiling at the drum major was an appropriate course of action. Elsa smiled back down at her, continuing to stroke her hair.

_Success! Four for you, drunk Anna. You go, drunk Anna. _

The more time passed, the more Anna began to worry that Elsa would decide that this had gone on for too long and decide to stop stroking her hair. In an attempt to preserve the moment, she decided to chance at conversation again. But what to talk about?

"I won a game of drunk driving earlier," she stated, looking over at the group of people that were either holding a controller or chugging a beer as their kart flew off the course.

"Did you now? Well done." _How is her voice so perfect? There's no way my voice sounds that nice. _

"Yeah! I played Mario Kart a bunch while growing up." _Yes, let her know that you're a nerd. That's good. _"Kristoff and I used to spend hours racing one another."

Elsa chuckled. "Well, I'm glad it paid off." She paused for a moment. "You and Kristoff lived in the same town, I take it?"

Anna nearly nodded, but at the last second realized that nodding might cause Elsa to stop stroking her hair, so she instead vocalized an affirmative. "Yeah! He and I were—er, that is, _are_, best buds. He bought me this for my birthday." She held the trumpet charm in her head, showing to Elsa.

After a pause, the older girl removed her hand from Anna's head (_Damn it!_) and reached down and took the charm in her hand. Silence hung between the two as Anna's heart raced. Finally, Elsa broke the silence. "What's the first thing you notice about someone when you meet them?"

Anna blinked in surprise at what seemed like an abrupt change of subject. Her hazy mind taking a little longer to think of a response than usual, Anna paused for a while before speaking. "Their eyes, I'd say." Elsa nodded in agreement.

"Same here," she said, examining the small sterling silver trumpet closely, "Except for you. The first thing I noticed about you was your trumpet necklace." She turned her gaze so that it was now fixed on Anna. Her bangs had fallen in front again, the blonde locks framing her face perfectly. The younger girl's heart was pounding so loudly she was certain Elsa could hear.

Anna had no idea how long the two remained that way. It could have been a second, it could have been minutes. All she knew is that she couldn't look away from Elsa's captivating gaze.

The moment was shattered by a victorious shout from Rapunzel. "YES! Take THAT!"

"I'm never gonna live this down," whined Flynn, but his expression was one of merriment. Elsa blinked and turned away from Anna, her hand lingering at Anna's trumpet necklace for a moment before she got to her feet.

"It's gotten rather late; I think I'm going to head home." Elsa smiled at the group. "Goodnight, everyone." There was a general response of "night" from most people as Elsa headed out the door. Anna's head was still spinning as she tried to comprehend all that had just happened.

_That was more attention than a drum major normally gives to a freshman._

_ Calm down you don't know how she works maybe this is just a thing she does._

_ Or maybe it isn't._

Anna's mental conflict raged, struggling to find an answer. Her inner debate was interrupted when Merida approached her, asking if she was ready to head back their dorms. She gave a weak affirmative as she got to her feet, stumbling slightly as she made her way to the door along with the other underclassmen.

The small group of trumpet underclassmen made it back to campus without any problems. Thankfully, it seemed at least one of them still had a sense of direction. Anna stumbled to her room, needing several attempts before she successfully unlocked her door. She quickly closed the door behind her and flopped onto her bed, mind still racing.

Eventually, the drowsiness from the alcohol won out, and Anna drifted off to a sleep filled with dreams of a gorgeous blonde drum major.


	4. Eyes With Pride

_**A/N**__: The Eyes With Pride portion is my salute to George N Parks, one of the greatest men in marching band history and one of my personal role models. A drum major is incomplete without a copy of GNP's The Dynamic Drum Major. _

_The fact that I have converted people into marching band lovers is fantastic to me. To people more interested in band, do searches on youtube for DCI (Drum Corps International) shows. Just youtube "DCI" and you'll get a bunch of hits. You won't regret it. _

_Note: Later on the term "strutting" is used. This is a way for the drum major to take the field, and involves running while leaning back and kicking your legs high in the air. Google search "drum major strut" for a better idea. Also, "Dinkles" are referred to. Those are a popular brand of marching shoes._

* * *

After weeks of practicing, it was finally time for the first football game, and thus the first performance of the Arendelle University Winter Wolf Marching Band.

And, currently, the band room was a hectic mess.

Everyone was scrambling to locate their uniform. All of the uniforms were kept in uniform bags in a large closet. And, since all of these bags looked alike, it took an inordinate amount of time to locate one's own uniform. Anna was one of the last to find hers. She quickly unzipped the bag, revealing the blue, white and black uniform. With a smile of satisfaction, she began to get dressed, stepping into the large bibbed trousers.

"Step off is in five minutes, everyone." Despite everything that was going on, Elsa's voice still managed to be heard by everyone present. "Make sure you have everything you need for game day!" By this point, Anna had just finished buttoning her top, and was currently attempting to do the small clasp on the collar. After several unsuccessful tries, she gave a huff of frustration.

"Ugh I can never get this stupid do-hickey," she complained. "Will someone be my hooker?" There was a general chuckle of amusement from the band members around her at her question. It was a joke her marching band had used for years. Since doing one's own collar clasp was often a cause for frustration, band members would go up to each other asking "would you please be my hooker?" Any help provided was usually accompanied with a joking wink.

Band members, in general, were not known for their maturity.

Despite the general amusement from the people around her, no one had moved to help Anna out. "Oh, c'mon," she said, mock-hurt, "None of you want to be my hooker? That hurts, it really does."

"Need some help, Anna?"

Anna's eyes widened as she spun around. Standing there was none other than the blonde drum major. _Of course, _she thought to herself, dryly, _Of course she was standing right behind me. _Elsa was once again dressed in her drum major uniform. Her hair was done up in a fancy sort of braided bun for the performance—Anna had no idea how she'd managed to get the hairstyle to look so flawless. Not a single hair was out of place. Instead of the black Dinkles worn by every other member of the band, the drum major had the bottoms of her pants tucked into smart black boots. As per the usual, her whistle was hung around her neck, but this time she held a silver mace in her right hand that stood only several inches shorter than her.

"Uhm, yeah," she said, flustered. A perfectly serious expression on her face, Elsa stepped up to Anna to fix her clasp. Anna sharply drew in her breath as Elsa reached over to her collar, doing the clasp in one easy motion. After the clasp was secured, Elsa glanced up at Anna and… _oh my god did she just wink at me?_ Before Anna had time to comprehend the situation, Elsa was gone, no doubt attending to some last minute drum major duties.

It was a bit before Anna unfroze and her brain started working again. She quickly picked up her trumpet and dashed out the door, placing her cavalier hat on her head as she ran. She took her place in the parade formation beside Merida.

"Cuttin' close, aren't ya?" Merida teased her.

"A trumpet is never late, nor is she early. She arrives precisely when she means to," quoted Anna, a wizened expression on her face. Merida rolled her eyes.

"You dork."

"You know it."

Once again, a sharp whistle blast cut through the air. "At-ten-HUT!"

"HUT!" bellowed Anna, snapping to attention with the remainder of the band. She glanced ahead to see Elsa standing in front of the parade, mace in hand.

"Mark time, march!" A snare drum began tapping out a rhythm as the band marched in place. Elsa twirled the mace in one hand as she gave a prolonged whistle blast, punctuating it with a quick sharp tweet as she pointed the bottom of the mace into the air at a 45 degree angle. With that, the band stepped off in well-trained unison, and Elsa turned around to lead the parade as the drumline began their marching cadence.

Anna soon discovered that parade marching with the Arendelle University Marching Band was nothing like parading with her high school band. In high school, she had been expected to always keep a straight face and to never say a word. Here, each section had their own traditions of what they did during the cadence that Anna slowly began to pick up on. There was one portion where the entire trumpet section inexplicably began hopping instead of marching, and at one point Flynn would hold his trumpet at random angles and the rest of the section was expected to follow. Several portions of the cadence featured chants that Anna slowly began to pick up on as she went along. When they crossed a road, the tubas would leave their place in the parade and wait for the rest of the band to cross, making the most ridiculous faces they could in the meantime. It was altogether a far more exciting experience than her high school's band and Anna found herself smiling nearly the entire time—a practice that would have been heavily frowned upon back in high school.

When they arrived at the football field, Elsa once again faced the band. Marching in reverse, she held the mace horizontally above her as she let out another long whistle blast. This was followed by a halt sequence from the drumline, punctuated by a final downbeat where Elsa snapped down her mace and the rest of the band halted. She gave one last smile of encouragement to the band before placing a serious mask on her face as she turned to face the field for the pre-game show. She took a few steps in front of the band and waited.

"Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the one, the only, the Arendelle University Winter Wolf Marching Band!" Four sharp whistle blasts cut through the air followed by four clicks of a snare drum, and the band took the field. Elsa was strutting ahead of them, leaning back and kicking her legs high into the air with flawless form. The band broke into the fight song of Arendelle University as they marched out, spreading out across the field. When Anna glanced up at the podium she saw that Elsa was already there, conducting with an enormous grin on her face. As if nothing else in the world made her happier than this. _God I love it when she smiles like that._

Anna quickly forced herself to not let her thoughts wander. Luckily, four years of training had paid off, and the rest of the short pre-game show went without a hitch. The band left the field and sat in the stands to watch the game.

While Anna had never been terribly interested in football itself, she was terrifically interested in the excitement it brought. Despite frequently not understanding some of the rules, she was right there shouting with several other members of the band. Other bandies took less of an interest, simply chatting with their friends as they waited for a break in the game to play a cheer.

Halftime rolled around faster than expected. Despite herself, Anna couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. The halftime show was significantly more complicated than pregame. The band was currently waiting around beyond the endzone until the clock expired and half time began.

"Deep breaths, feisty pants. You've done this before," Kristoff said, giving her a pat on the shoulder.

"Who said I was nervous? I'm not nervous. In fact, I'm the opposite of nervous! I am most assuredly extremely _un_nervous," Anna blurted out rapidly. Kristoff raised an amused eyebrow.

"The speed and pitch of your voice says otherwise." He grinned. "You're gonna love it. Performing half time shows back in our little hometown pales in comparison to performing here." With that, he went off to join the other trombones, leaving Anna by herself. She sighed as she reached up to adjust her hat, hoping it wasn't crooked.

"Nervous?"

Anna nearly jumped. _Again with the whole coming up behind me thing. She _really_ needs to cut that out._ She spun around to, once again, see her white-clad drum major. She smiled sheepishly, her face noticeably reddened as she went to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. "Do I really seem that nervous? I swear I'm not, I've done this before—plenty of times, in fact. I'd even go so far as to say I've done this a statistically significant number of times." _Dear god why are you still talking?_

Elsa chuckled. "Well, in that case, I'll leave you be. I know you'll do great." With that, she was off, heading over to talk to someone else. _One day, I'll learn how to say something that isn't completely idiotic in front of her. That day, however, is not today._

A loud buzzer went off signaling the end of the first half. The band quickly took their spots at the edge of the sideline. Once again, Elsa stood at the front, awaiting the voice over. The moment the introductory announcement began, she strutted out to the middle of the field, where she then stopped and began her mace routine. Anna watched, captivated, as she twirled the mace in one hand, then the other, then she picked up speed and the mace was moving nearly too fast for Anna to keep track of. Very abruptly, Elsa stopped, only to toss the mace several times her own height into the air. Anna couldn't help but gasp in suspense as the silver object twirled far above Elsa's head. Then it fell, only to be grabbed effortlessly by the drum major. The audience let out a cheer as Elsa snapped into a crisp salute and then turned and faced the band, the elation on her face poorly hidden by an attempted mask of seriousness. Anna couldn't help but grin for her. She was shaken out of her trance once again by the blast of a whistle as Elsa twirled her mace to give the "forward march" command.

As she took the field, Anna noticed Elsa salute the audience out of the corner of her eye. The older woman then placed her hat and mace to the side as she stepped on the podium. Soon, everyone was in their spots, awaiting her command.

"Detail to the ready," she commanded. Everyone followed the command without hesitation. A prolonged whistle tweet. Then: "At-ten-HUT!"

"HUT!" The cry echoed throughout the stadium.

"How are your feet?" shouted Elsa.

"Together!" came the band's reply.

"Stomach?"

"In!"

"Chest?"

"Out!"

"Shoulders?"

"Back!"

"Elbows?"

"Frozen!"

"Eyes?"

"With pride!"

"Eyes?"

"WITH PRIDE!"

Elsa was grinning from ear to ear as she raised her arms. Anna saw her bounce her hands ever so slightly to get the tempo before counting off "One! Two! Three! Four!" Her energy was entirely contagious. Anna snapped up her trumpet, executing her first step off flawlessly.

Throughout the show, Elsa's entire body expressed the emotion of the music, conveying to the band what she wanted from them. They all followed her lead. At one point, Flynn stepped up to the front sideline to give a dazzling trumpet solo, screaming up to notes so high his face turned bright red. Another trumpet soloist was featured later on—a junior named Belle. The energetic Latin music echoed throughout the stadium, characterized by dramatic brass features and driving beats from the drumline. Next thing Anna knew, the show was over and Elsa was snapping her arms down to her sides, an expression of pure joy in her face as the audience roared with applause. In that moment, she looked absolutely radiant. _This is what it must feel like to look upon a goddess._ One quick whistle command later and the band left the field.

A couple hours later found everyone back in the band room, putting their instruments and uniforms away. Everyone was complimenting Flynn and Belle on their solos. Belle was rather bashful about the attention, but Flynn ate it all up entirely, an enormous grin on his features. He, of course, congratulated his section, boasting that he did indeed lead the best section in the band, which resulted in a round of cheers from all of the trumpets.

"You sounded awesome, Flynn," Anna gushed as she returned her treasured trumpet to its case. "There's no way I'll ever be able to play as high as you do. Those notes were crazy!"

"That's what I said when I was a freshman and saw my section leader take a ridiculous solo," confided Flynn with a smirk, "And look at me now!" He paused, looking thoughtful for a moment. "You should join the pep band—it gets you a bunch of more opportunities to play. I know it really improved my range."

"Pep band?" inquired Anna.

"Yeah, it's essentially the same group of people as the marching band, but we have a conductor instead of a drum major, and we play at all sporting events that aren't football, basically. Rehearsals are on Tuesdays—I better see you there!" With those parting words, Flynn was off, no doubt attempting to find someone who hadn't complimented him quite yet. Anna chuckled as she put her belongings away and located Kristoff so that the two of them could walk back to their dorms together.

"So, what'd you think of your first time playing to a big crowd?" Kristoff asked as they walked.

"It was _incredible_!" Anna practically squealed.

"Didn't miss any step offs because you were too busy admiring the drum major?" he teased.

"No, I—" She stopped walking as she fully realized what Kristoff had said. Her face grew red. "H-hey I already told you…"

"That you don't have a crush on her, I know, I know," Kristoff said, holding his arms up in defeat. "I'm sure you'll be singing another tune after you've had a few drinks tonight."

"Ugh, you're impossible!" Anna crossed her arms, refusing to meet his gaze.

"As your best friend, it's my job to be impossible." The resulted in Anna punching him in the arm. "Owww! Alright, alright, I'll cut it out," he whined, rubbing his arm and wincing.

"Good. Because as your best friend it's my job to punch you when you're being impossible."

"I'm starting to think we need re-think this whole 'best friend' deal. Seems like it could be detrimental to my health."

* * *

Evening fell, and, after a long time trying to decide what to wear and very little time actually getting ready, Anna was on her way to Trumpet House for her first all-band party. She and the other trumpet underclassmen were traveling in a pack, and Anna hoped at least one of them remembered the way there, as she was notoriously bad at directions. At the moment, Anna was filed with a mixture of excitement and nerves.

_Will I run into her at the party? Will she want to speak to me there? I mean there will be a lot of people there she might not bother with speaking to me, and that would be okay, I shouldn't be expecting any attention from her, everyone knows her and everyone's going to want to talk to her so I probably won't talk to her. But what if I do? _So caught up was Anna in her thoughts that she didn't realize that she was currently standing right outside Trumpet House. Stepping through the porch door as per usual, she prepared herself for a Trumpet House stuffed to the brim with band members.

The moment she and the other trumpets had opened the door, someone bellowed, "THE TRUMPETS ARE HERE!" which resulted in a joyous shout from many of the other members. The house was packed, quite unlike how it had been when she had come to visit a week prior. Bandies of all sections were milling around, cups of punch in their hands. The room in the back was currently lit by a blacklight and filled with people dancing to music. Flynn spotted them, a lopsided smile on his face.

"Good to see you all," he slurred, "The punch is upstairs—help yourself!"

Somehow, Anna managed to weave her way through the bodies around her, locating a large tub filled with a curiously blue liquid. Shrugging, she filled a cup with it, wincing at the taste. _Ugh. Kristoff wasn't kidding about the punch at band parties._

At that moment, Anna looked across the room to see Elsa. The drum major was chatting with a burly, bearded tuba player—was his name Oaken? Anna wasn't entirely sure. The woman's attire was simple—a blue tank top and white shorts to accommodate for the immense amount of heat that resulted from over a hundred close-packed people. It did, however, reveal a _lot_ of skin. Her eyes were adorned with makeup—something that Anna still couldn't really figure out how to do, making Elsa all the more mysterious. Her hair was once done up in a bun, though it was significantly more casual than the one she'd worn for the show earlier. Anna didn't realize she was staring until Elsa glanced up at her, giving a quick smile and a wave. Embarrassed, Anna waved back, then quickly took another swig of her drink, this time wincing only _slightly_ at the flavor. _Good for the nerves, right?_

The night carried on. Anna, being the social character that she was, found herself floating from conversation to conversation as she attempted to meet people outside of her own section. At some point, she was introduced to a brown-haired individual that everyone simply referred to as Hiccup (_That can't be his real name, it must be a nickname_). He said that, by trade, he was a trombone, but this semester he was serving as the pep band conductor.

At another point, she met Anastasia (though everyone referred to her as Anya) and Mulan—two mellophone players. By this stage of the night, the world hard started to get a little spinny, and Anna only barely remembered meeting a bass drummer everyone called Marshmallow (like Eugene, no one referred to him by his real name) as well as a colour guard member named Ariel. She was speaking to Aurora, one of the flute section leaders, when Kristoff lumbered up to her and pulled her into a hug.

"Anna!" he greeted, his alcohol-heavy breath barely noticeable in the drunken atmosphere. "Good to see you. Whaddaya think of your first all-band party?"

Anna smiled, leaning on him slightly. "It's wonderful," she said, unintentionally dragging out each syllable longer than necessary.

"C'mere, we need to talk," he said, dragging Anna away. She made no move to resist, smiling apologetically at Aurora. Seemingly happy with finding a slightly-less-crowded area, Kristoff turned back to Anna. "Have you talked to Elsa at all tonight?" he asked.

"Uhmmm no." She was unable to keep the note of longing out of her voice. Kristoff looked extremely determined.

"You should!" he stated.

"Why?"

He crossed his arms, a smug expression on his face that Anna found extremely frustrating. "Because you like her."

"I—I…" The protest died on her lips as her gaze fell to the floor. She gave a small hiccup, then crossed her arms, looking at him defiantly. "W-what does it matter anyways? I haven't got a chance with… with the drum major!"

"Now don't you go all self-deprecating on me."

"I'm not, I'm just being realistic!" defended Anna. _Even if I can't stop myself from thinking about her…_

"Well, that's stupid, where has being realistic ever gotten you?"

"I…"

"Look, you're interesting and talented, and I know from experience you're a good kisser—"

"_Kristoff!_" exclaimed Anna, aghast.

"What, don't pretend you didn't enjoy it," he teased. Anna's face was flushed red, and that wasn't just from the alcohol. It had been the summer before Kristoff had left for Arendelle University. Anna and Kristoff had been drinking together with a few of their friends. While Kristoff had done his share of drinking in high school, Anna had never drank, and he was determined that she had to experience what it was like before he headed off to college. "I don't want you turning into some senior hooligan without me," he'd told her. "You need to have your first time getting drunk be in an environment that's safe." The logic had seemed sound to Anna, so she'd participated.

Several drinks later, the two of them had been chatting about one thing or another. At one point, Kristoff teased Anna about her ex-boyfriend. She'd rolled her eyes. "I mean it hardly counted. We broke after a month and all we ever did was cuddle." At that, Kristoff had paused and looked at her quizzically. "What?"

"Does that mean you've never had your first kiss?"

"Well, I—I guess…" she'd trailed off, her fuzzy head unable to come up with sentences as fast as she would have liked. After blinking a few times as she gathered her thoughts, she'd continued, "No, I haven't, but I mean that's fine. It'll happen at some point." She'd sighed. "At this point, I honestly just wanna get it over with. People put so much emphasis on first kisses and it just seems like a lot of pressure." At this point, Kristoff had still been giving her a very curious expression. "…What?"

"Well, do you want to?"

"Do I want to what?"

"Get it over with. Have your first kiss."

Anna's face had reddened as she'd realized what he was implying. "Like, right now?"

He'd shrugged, attempting to remain nonchalant though a blush had crept its way onto his cheeks. "Sure."

Anna had said nothing as Kristoff slowly leaned closer. He'd hesitated for a moment with his lips an inch away from Anna's, giving her plenty of time to back away. When she didn't, he'd pressed his lips to hers. After a bit, he'd pulled away, a shy smile on his face. After taking a moment or two to process what had just happened and realizing she enjoyed the sensation, Anna had quickly leaned back and kissed him again. And again.

The two only spoke of the incident on occasion. It generally resulted in a lot of blushing on Anna's part (though she would freely admit that she didn't regret it—there was something romantic about having your first kiss be with your best friend) and a lot of smirking on Kristoff's part. In all, it had nearly no effect on their friendship—they'd remained as close as ever without any awkwardness or tension. The only thing of note that came from it that Kristoff now had something to tease Anna about. Something she now realized she could now use as material to tease him back.

"Oh yes, I enjoyed it _so_ much that I'm now interested in girls," she mocked, an impish glint in her eyes. Kristoff's calm composure was broken down at this.

"H-hey," he stammered, flustered. Anna absolutely delighted in this, a satisfied smirk on her face. She was so proud of herself that she neglected to notice Kristoff glance over her shoulder and begin to smile mischievously. She only registered that something was amiss when he'd spun her around and shoved her and she was colliding into another body.

"Kristoff, what was that…" Anna trailed off when she realized that the person she had been shoved into was none other than Elsa. Anna paled. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that, I… I was shoved by… by Kristoff and… I'm sorry please don't be mad!" The words were tumbling out of her mouth in a drunken, barely-cohesive mess. For her part, Elsa was simply smiling down at the apologizing girl, an expression of amusement on her face.

"Anna," she said, (_Oh my god I love the way she says my name_) placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, it's fine. There are so many people here, everyone's bumping into each other at all times anyways."

Anna couldn't stop herself from babbling. "Ugh I'm so sorry—all I seem to do is embarrass myself in front of you." Anna's gaze fell to the floor.

"You're doing fine, dear," Elsa said with a laugh, moving her hand to cup Anna's chin so that the two were looking at one another. Anna's heart skipped a beat. _Oh my god oh my god oh my god she's touching my face oh my god we're so close how this this happening?_

"You… you're…" Anna fumbled for words. "You're… uhm… the best drum major I've ever had." _Well, that's not the _worst_ thing you could have said. _Elsa's eyes lit up at the compliment. In that moment, she looked just as excited as she did earlier that day when she'd been conducting.

_I love it when you look like that._

"Thank you," she whispered, bringing Anna into a hug. Anna's head was spinning. From the alcohol or the intoxication of being so close to Elsa, she was not sure. All she knew is that Elsa pulled away far too quickly for her liking. Anna said nothing, no longer trusting herself to be able to form coherent sentences. Her mouth was simply open in a small "o" of surprise. Elsa looked at her and giggled.

"You're adorable," she breathed. And, with that, Elsa was gone again, leaving a red-faced Anna in her wake.

_Oh my god did she really just say that._

_ She just called me adorable._

Anna's head was spinning. Actually, the whole world was spinning. She became vaguely aware that the ground was getting closer than it should be when she felt a pair of arms catch her.

Anna turned her head up was vaguely able to make out a blonde haired figure.

_Elsa?_

"Whoa, you alright there, Anna?"

_Definitely not Elsa._

She squinted a bit more and was finally able to recognize the figure before her as Rapunzel. _Wow she looks really concerned, why does she look so concerned… oh wait she's holding me up isn't she? I should probably stand up._ Stumbling a bit, Anna managed to get back to supporting herself. She flashed what she hoped was a reassuring grin at Rapunzel. "Yeah, I'm fine, just got a little dizzy." The other girl didn't look entirely reassured.

"Why don't you come sit down and have some water to drink?" Rapunzel asked, her voice gentle. It didn't occur to Anna to argue. Anna wasn't entirely sure how she got from point A to point B, but very soon she was sitting in a chair in the kitchen, sipping from a cup of water with Rapunzel standing nearby.

"Feeling better?" inquired Rapunzel. Anna paused for a moment, deliberating.

"I'm drunk," she finally stated. Rapunzel giggled.

"Well, that much is clear."

"Like, really drunk."

"Yes, I see that. Have another sip of your water." Anna quickly obliged. "A few of the underclassmen are heading back to the dorms soon. You feeling well enough to walk?"

"Well enough to walk?" slurred Anna, indignant. "'Course I am!" She got to her feet, causing the world to spin a bit, but she still remained upright. "See!"

_ Hah. Totally showed her. I got this whole being drunk thing doowwwwwn._

Rapunzel still looked a bit hesitant, her protective nature obviously very strong, but eventually seemed to decide that Anna was indeed well enough to make it back to her dorm.

"Well, here's my number, text me when you get back to let me know you made it alright, okay?" Anna nodded dumbly as Rapunzel entered her number into her phone. "Actually, just text me if you need anything, okay?" she added. Anna nodded again.

The walk back was rather blurry, but, one way or another, Anna made it back to her room in one piece. Fumbling with her phone, she managed to send a quick 'made it' to Rapunzel. She didn't even take the time to take her shoes off before collapsing into bed, passing out into a dreamless sleep moments later.

* * *

_**A/N**__: As an aside, Kristoff and Anna's friendship is based strongly off of the relationship between me and my best friend, first kiss scene included. Also, yes, I am aware that Anya is not Disney. However, I grew up with her as my favourite princess all the same (though she has now been replaced by Elsa and Anna), so I really wanted her in the fic. Also, apologies for getting really ranty on all of the marching band stuff. You guys all signed on for a fic with Elsanna _and_ marching band, so a fic with Elsanna and marching band is what you're gonna get!_


	5. The Feast of Champions

_**A/N**__: And here comes the chapter I've been looking forward to writing since I first thought of the idea for this fic. Also, if you haven't already found me on tumblr, I've posted a link on my author's page. My username is arendelledrummajor. Whoo!_

_Once again, thank you so much for taking the time to read this! I'm completely overwhelmed by how many reviews, follows and likes this has. My heart does a little excited dance every time I see a new review. All that said, enjoy!_

* * *

The only other thing that happened of note as a result of the party was a massive hangover the next morning. And the fact that now, more than ever, Anna couldn't get Elsa off of her mind. She was thankful that pep band rehearsal was coming up soon—playing trumpet was a great way to get her mind off of things, and it would especially be better with Hiccup leading rehearsal instead of Elsa.

It was to Anna's great surprise when she saw Elsa sitting beside Flynn atop one of the instrument shelves, silver trumpet in hand.

"Elsa plays trumpet?" hissed Anna to Kristoff. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think it was a point of importance," Kristoff said, shrugging nonchalantly.

"_Of course it's a point of importance_." Her voice was steadily rising in volume and pitch.

"Oh. Sorry about that." Kristoff gave Anna a shove toward the trumpet section, causing her to glare at him. He simply smiled and waved in response. Anna sighed and took a deep breath.

_Okay. You can do this. Just have a normal conversation._

Determined, Anna resumed walking toward the other trumpets. Flynn waved at her, an enormous smile on his face. "Anna, glad you decided to join us here!" he greeted, hopping down from his perch. "I'll go get you a new pep band music folder—and, no worries, it'll be a 1st trumpet folder." As Flynn walked away, Elsa smiled down at Anna.

"Good to see you, Anna," greeted Elsa.

"You play trumpet?" _Yes this is how a conversation works. You're doing really good with the whole blurting out exactly what's on your mind thing. _To Anna's surprise, Elsa smiled sheepishly. _Well that's super adorable._

"Not by trade. I've been working on picking up new instruments during pep band. I spent freshman year learning flute, sophomore year learning sax, and junior year learning trumpet." She shrugged. "I was going to give mellophone a shot this year, but Flynn guilted me into staying on with the trumpets."

"Wow that's… really awesome," stated Anna, thoroughly impressed. Elsa continued to smile at her.

"Thanks, though I never got particularly good at any of them. I can still only play up to an A above the staff, maybe a B flat if I'm lucky," admitted Elsa.

"That's great for having only played a year!" Anna gushed, "I mean, it took me a couple years before I could play that high. I mean, now I can hit a high D if I'm lucky, maybe an E flat if I'm _real_ lucky and—oh geez I didn't mean to start bragging or anything. You know more than anyone that I missed the high C at auditions—I've since gotten less rusty and gotten it back into my range, I promise. Like, Flynn's range is so much better than mine. He can go up to a high G. _A high G._ Like, not the G that's just at the top of the staff. The G _above_ that. That's crazy! I don't know how he does it I just know I'm gonna work really hard until I can get at that level because I really, really want to be at that level because screaming trumpets just _sound so cool_ and, and…" Anna trailed off when she realized Elsa was staring at her with an amused glint in her eyes. She blushed. "A-ah and I'm rambling again, aren't I? Sorry about that."

"Don't be sorry," Elsa breathed, "Your face really lights up when you talk about the things that you love. It's nice."

"A-ah r-r-really?" Anna stuttered, her face now bright red. She decided to quickly change the subject in hopes that it would give her a chance to regain her composure. "Uhm, well, ah, if you've picked up all of these instruments recently, then what _is _the instrument you play by trade?"

"I grew up as a percussionist," explained Elsa, "In high school, I spent some time on the marimba in the pit, but I also played snare in the drumline. At Arendelle, I just stuck with snare in marching band, only switching instruments in pep band."

"Wow, a drum major that actually plays drums. Fancy that." _Wait were you just witty?_

"Yeah, fancy that." _You were totally just cool and witty. _Anna decided that any further conversation would probably go downhill for her, and settled for getting out her trumpet and starting to warm up. She played a few long tones, then a C scale. One octave, then two, doing a mental victory dance when she hit the high C crystal clear. _Why couldn't I have done that during auditions?_

Feeling ambitious and spurred on by a desire to impress Elsa, Anna decided to attempt two octaves of a D scale. Upon successfully hitting the high D, she removed the trumpet from her mouth, a goofy grin on her face. _Aw yeah, that's how it's done._

"Hey, great job getting the D," Flynn said as he walked up to Anna, giving her a pat on the back.

"Thanks, I—" Anna immediately cut off as she realized, by the smirk on Flynn's features, the implied double entendre. The red Anna's face had been earlier was nothing compared to her current state. Elsa's hand rose up to her mouth to stifle a chuckle.

"Flynn, stop harassing the freshmen," Elsa chided him.

"With all due respect, you have no power here, Ms. Drum Major," bantered Flynn as he scaled the shelves to once again sit beside Elsa. Elsa gave him a look of mock-disapproval, but said nothing. Figuring she'd probably make a fool of herself if she attempted to climb up beside them (and lord knows she'd felt embarrassed enough for one day), Anna simply opted for taking a nearby chair. Soon, Elsa and Flynn began to chat.

"So, shall I expect Her Majesty the drum major at Trumpet House this Friday night?" asked Flynn. A look of disgust crossed Elsa's features.

"Urgh. Unfortunately, yes," she admitted after a pause.

"Unfortunately?" Flynn looked hurt. "Why, the Feast of Champions is a grand tradition! It's an honor to behold! A true marvel! The grandest showcase of them all!" Elsa gave him a look of disapproval. He turned to Anna for support. "Hey, Anna, back me up on this, won't you?"

"I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about," Anna confessed, looking up at the two of them. Flynn gasped.

"Why, the Feast of Champions is only the most marvelous competition in the world. Competitors gather to engage in feats of endurance, struggle through grueling obstacles, and eventually triumph in eternal glory!" Elsa rolled her eyes.

"It's a drinkoff," she explained wryly.

"Not _just_ a drinkoff," corrected Flynn, "but competitors _also_ have to eat not one, not two, but ten chicken nuggets in order to be victorious!"

"It's an absolutely terrible idea."

"It's a _wonderful_ idea," argued Flynn.

"You've regretted it every single year," she quipped right back.

"That's half the fun!"

"You're ridiculous."

Anna couldn't help but smile at the sight. There the almighty drum major was, arguing about a drinkoff. Somehow, it made her a lot more real, and at the same time, even more wonderful. She was forced to snap back to reality when she realized that both Flynn and Elsa were looking at her expectantly. Apparently, she'd been asked a question. "Uhm, sorry, what?" _Good job with the whole not looking like an idiot thing. Really nailing that one._

"Are you planning on coming to the Feast of Champions?" inquired Flynn. "You don't even have to participate. An event this magnificent deserves to be spectated by millions!" This was met with another eye roll from Elsa, which Anna found to be delightfully adorable. She nodded.

"Sure! Sounds like it'll be… interesting, to say the least."

"Interesting is a good way to put it," Elsa said, glancing at Flynn with an amused smirk on her face. Flynn paid it no mind.

"Huzzah! We shall indeed drink many beers, and feast upon many chicken nuggets!"

It was at that moment that Hiccup got everyone's attention to begin rehearsal. The conversation was dropped as the trumpet players focused on playing their instruments. Throughout the rehearsal, Anna couldn't help but be conflicted between trying to listen back to Elsa to see how well she was playing and also focusing extremely hard on her own playing to impress Elsa. The attempt multitasking didn't entirely go in her favor, and she ended up getting distracted in the middle of songs and losing her place on more than one occasion. She'd thought it had been difficult when the blonde drum major was up on the podium to distract her. Having the woman sit behind her and knowing that, at any moment, Elsa could be looking at her just seemed to unnerve Anna even more.

Eventually, the end of the rehearsal arrived, and Anna was packing her trumpet away, sighing inwardly. _Well, I've definitely got a lot of improving to do. A lot of which has to do with not getting unnerved because there's a pretty girl sitting near you._

"You play very well." Anna blinked in surprise then looked up. Elsa, who was still perched atop the instrument shelves, was smiling at her. Once again, she felt the heat begin to rise to her cheeks.

"A-are you sure?" she stammered, looking to the side. "I mean, I messed up a lot today, what with all of these new songs and all of these new rhythms that I haven't seen before and I'm not that great at sight reading—but you already knew that, you were at my auditions—and I really think I could have done better today and… o-oh, look, there's Kristoff, I better go!" Anna quickly turned around, walking at a slightly faster pace than normal to catch up with her friend. She could practically hear his amused voice already.

_Man, feisty pants, you've got it bad._

* * *

Anna gave an irritated "harrumph" as she stared at herself in the mirror.

_It's a drinkoff. Not some sort of party. What you wear isn't a huge deal. _

_ But _she'll_ be there. Of course it matters._

After a lot of searching through her tiny closet and getting increasingly frustrated as she slowly decided that none of her outfits were really that nice, Anna eventually settled on a maroon flannel shirt with jeans and red converse. _Better than a t-shirt, I guess._

After finally giving up on getting her hair to do anything interesting and, once again, settling for wearing it in two braids, Anna met up with Kristoff to walk down to Trumpet House. Her friend was planning on participating for the second year in a row, despite the fact that he'd vomited the previous year before he could finish his last beer.

"You don't understand—I _have_ to redeem myself," explained Kristoff. "I can't go down as the wimpy freshman who vomited at the Feast of Champions!"

"Right. You want to go down as the wimpy sophomore who vomited two years in a row," Anna snarked. This earned an irritated huff from Kristoff, which in turn elicited a laugh from Anna. In an attempt to save face, he quickly changed the topic of conversation.

"You going to the drum major brunch tomorrow?" he asked. Earlier that week at rehearsal, Elsa had announced that she would be coming to the dining hall near all the freshman and sophomore dorms for brunch as an opportunity to get to know some of the underclassmen better.

_Elsa's going to be there. Of course I wouldn't miss it for the world._ Deciding that would be a bit much, Anna simply shrugged and responded, "Yeah, I guess so." Kristoff gave her an amused look, but otherwise said nothing.

The two arrived at Trumpet House to see a modest crowd gathered. Flynn waved at them enthusiastically.

"Ah, Kristoff, come to once again vie for glory and fame?" he said, beginning to set cans of beer into sets of five.

"Of course! I spent my whole freshman year training for this."

"Oh, so that's what all of the parties spent piss drunk were for?" Flynn taunted. Kristoff didn't look deterred.

"You bet," he said with a smug smirk. Flynn laughed.

"Well, make yourself comfortable while Rapunzel and I get things set up and the last few competitors arrive." He resumed setting out the beers. Soon thereafter, Rapunzel entered from the kitchen, a tray of chicken nuggets in her oven-mitt clad hands. Trailing behind her was Elsa, dressed in a black undershirt with a blue and white cardigan. Her hair, as per the usual, was tied back in a single long braid, though this time it simply hung down her back instead of over her shoulder. She smiled when she saw Kristoff and Anna, giving a polite wave at the pair.

"Wow, Kristoff, back again after last year?" inquired Rapunzel, her eyes twinkling impishly. Kristoff groaned.

"Man, does _everyone_ remember that?" Anna smirked at her friend.

"Looks like it's too late for your plan."

"A victory at the Feast of Champions can erase any bad record!" retorted Kristoff.

"Fact," Rapunzel acquiesced, setting down the tray of chicken nuggets. Elsa raised an eyebrow at the other blonde.

"I can't believe Flynn's gotten you in on this whole Feast of Champions thing, Rapunzel," she said. Rapunzel shrugged.

"Normally, drinkoffs aren't really my thing, but the Feast of Champions has a special place in my heart. There's a certain honor to it." Elsa looked unimpressed.

"A certain honor to chugging five beers and scarfing down ten chicken nuggets as fast as humanly possible?" Rapunzel nodded.

"Precisely!" Elsa sighed and chuckled, obviously getting nowhere.

Not much later, several other guests had arrived. Adam (or, as he was more commonly known, Beast), a tenor drummer with long brown hair stood at one station, eyeing the beers and clearly impatient to start. Oaken, the tuba player Anna had seen at the party, towered over his place setting, looking far too jolly for someone who was about to start chugging beer. Also ready to chug, among others, were Hiccup, Merida, Anya, Kristoff, Flynn, Rapunzel, and… _Elsa?_ Elsa, the perfect. Elsa, the leader. Elsa the drum major… was competing in a drinkoff? Anna's brain was struggling to comprehend the concept. She'd assumed the drum major was merely going to be viewing the competition. Drinkoffs were sort of things for the common college student—Elsa was so much more than that.

Flynn was grinning smugly at Elsa as she scowled back. "Your Majesty looks right thrilled to be here!"

Elsa crinkled her nose in a way that Anna found incredibly adorable. "Ugh, I can't believe I let you talk me into this." Her expression swiftly changed into a smirk. "Though now that I'm here, I'm sure you understand that you won't be winning." _Hot damn, confidence is sexy._

"Well, we've got enough beer for one more competitor. Any takers?" Flynn said, gesturing broadly to the group. Kristoff looked over at Anna.

"C'mon, Anna, you know you want to go down in history!" he insisted. Anna glanced from Kristoff, to the beer, to Elsa. She may have been mistaken, but Anna swore the woman gave her a smile of encouragement. _Well there's no way I can back down from that._

"Alright, sure!" she said, more enthusiastically than she actually felt. She approached the table, groaning inwardly as she looked down at its contents. _Ughhh what have I gotten myself into?_

Rubbing his hands in excitement, Flynn prepared to announce to the table. "Alright, everyone, you know the rules! Five beers, ten chicken nuggets. You puke, you're out! First to win goes down in eternal glory as a victor of the Feast of Champions! Ready?" There was a collective groan as a response. Flynn continued on regardless. "Five… four… three… two… one… DRINK!"

The room was filled with the _hisssss_ of beer cans being opened, soon replaced by the softer _glug glug glug_ of college students attempting to drink beer as fast as humanly possible. The spectators cheered as chicken nuggets were ungracefully scarfed down and beer dribbled down people's faces.

Anna groaned, only half-way through her first beer. She had never really chugged before, and was quickly finding that it was a lot more difficult than it looked. Nearby, Kristoff slammed his first beer can down upside down, indicating that it was empty, as he quickly stuffed a chicken nugget in his face. Anna's eyes widened in surprise as she saw Elsa quickly slam her own can down and move to open a second. _How the hell does she do that?!_

Some way or another, Anna had managed to get down three beers and five chicken nuggets. She stared at her fourth can of beer, a look of utter revulsion on her face. At that moment, she heard the sound of a can being slammed down, and a victorious, "Done!" Anna stared dumbly. It was Elsa.

Not five seconds later, Flynn slammed down his own final can. "Damn it!" he cursed, wiping a trail of beer from his chin. "Should have known better than to invite you." Elsa's eyes were dancing with mischief.

"Well, too late," she said, pressing her forefinger into his chest as she grinned confidently. "I've won your little Feast of Champions… so there!" There was a loud belch, quickly followed by the sound of Kristoff slamming his own can on the table.

"Hah!" he proclaimed. "Done! Take that!" The next to finish didn't come for quite a while as the competitors slowly started to lose their resolve. Anna herself couldn't bring herself to finish her fourth beer, feeling rather queasy. The excitement died down as the table was cleared of the remaining beer and nuggets and re-purposed as a beer pong table. The only ones really interested in participating in pong were those who had been spectators earlier. All of the competitors in the Feast of Champions were ranging from lounging about on couches with entirely unpleasant expressions on their faces to wandering around questioning all of their life decisions.

Flynn walked up to Anna and groaned. "Why did I let this happen?" he whined. "Dear god all of these people are feeling awful right now as a result of _me_. _I _organized this." He looked down at her, an entirely panicked expression on his face. "What am I doing with my life?" Anna wasn't sure to chuckle at his antics or groan due to the fact that he was entirely to blame for the current hostility of her stomach. Rapunzel stumbled over from nearby, slipping her arm around Flynn.

"Eugene, that was probably one of the worst life decisions I've ever made," she admitted with a wince, "But it's a terrible life decision I'll make again one year from now." She looked at him, and he looked back down at her adoringly. "C'mon, let's go cuddle and be miserable together," she said, tugging him off toward one of the couches. He seemed all too happy to oblige.

Smiling at the adorableness of the couple, Anna turned around only to accidentally bump into a tall figure. "Sorry!" she apologized hastily, stepping back.

"No, it's entirely my fault," he apologized, brushing off his shirt. "I should have watched where I was going."

"Oh geeze, no, it was my bad." As per the usual, the alcohol was making Anna ramble. "I'm sorry, I—" At that moment, she finally glanced up to see the face of the man whom she'd so rudely bumped into. His expression somehow managed to be a mixture of concern, confusion and amusement all at the same time. "I'm… ah… Anna, by the way." she introduced herself, marginally awkwardly. His expression relaxed. "I play trumpet."

"Hans," he said, shaking her hand. "Baritone." He paused for a moment. "How come I haven't seen you around before? I feel like yours isn't a face I would forget."

"Ah, well, that's probably because I'm just a freshman," she confessed, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. He chuckled.

"_Just_ a freshman?" he repeated, a genuine smile on his face. Anna felt herself relax slightly. She smiled back at him, one hand fiddling with the trumpet necklace around her neck out of habit.

A comfortable silence hung between the two for a bit before Hans spoke up again. "So, what do you think of Arendelle University so far?"

"Oh, I love it here!" _Well, there's one thing in particular I like more than anything else._ "The campus is simply beautiful, and the weather's really been nice—"

"Wait 'til you see our winters," Hans interjected with a wry smile.

"—and my classes have been fairly interesting so far (well, and then there's my calculus class, but there's nothing to be done about that), and I absolutely love being a part of this band!" Anna gushed. "My high school band was only around 50 people, it's so much more exciting to be in a big band!"

"Want to know something?" Hans asked. Anna nodded enthusiastically. Hans leaned in close, as if telling a secret. "My high school band was only twenty-eight people."

Anna's mouth dropped open in surprise. "No!"

"Yes!"

She giggled. "That's so sad!"

He nodded, his expression grave. "My senior year, we didn't even have any clarinets."

"No!"

"Yes! And we didn't even have separate section leaders for flutes and saxophones—they just got merged into 'woodwinds.'"

"Oh my goodness, I can't even imagine."

"It was something," he concurred. "I almost felt bad being my drum major my senior year since that left us without a baritone, but the trombones were able to carry the low brass."

"You were drum major in high school? That's so cool, congrats!" Anna said, sincerely. "I never tried for drum major back in high school—I mean, it always looked like a really cool job, but I mean… I dunno." She smiled sheepishly.

"Well, I'm sure you would have done a great job," he assured her. He paused and glanced around them. "You want to continue chatting outside? It's really nice out and not quite as loud." Anna nodded. It didn't occur to her half-drunken mind to refuse until she was partway out the door and she realized exactly what situation she was putting herself in. She paused for a moment before slowly shutting the door behind her. _Okay, don't overreact, maybe he really does just want to chat outside and isn't about to make a move or something crazy like that._

Still smiling, she walked over to where he was standing near the edge of the porch. "So, what's your major?" he asked. Anna looked guilty for a moment, then gave a shrug.

"I, uh, haven't quite decided yet," she admitted. "There are just so many options, I can hardly decide! Sometimes I think I was to major in chemistry, then sometimes I think psychology, then other times I want to study a foreign language or something, or…" Anna's breath hitched as she felt Hans place an arm around her waist. She quickly made the decision to keep talking. "…or maybe even something business-y, though I don't really think that's my cup of tea, more of my parents' sort of thing, really. I know I'm not talented enough for a music major or anything but I have to admit it always had a nice ring to it, and I'm thinking about maybe getting a minor in it or something… What about you?"

"Political science," he replied. "I've always had an interest in politics. I'm going to be a governor or a senator one day." He spoke with confidence, as if it were an absolute certainty. Despite her current slight feeling of unease, Anna couldn't help but be impressed by his determination.

"Oh, that's really nice that you've got what you want to do figured out. I wish I could say the same for myself, but, uhm, well, you know…" she trailed off lamely, giving a shrug of her shoulders. Hans stared off the edge of the porch, looking pensive. Anna's heart rate quickened for every moment of silence between the two of them. Finally, Hans turned to face Anna. She tentatively met his gaze.

"How drunk are you?" he asked, not unkindly. Anna blinked in surprise at the question.

"…not drunk enough," she said after a moment's hesitation. Though his smile didn't falter, Anna swore she saw something in his eyes harden.

"Not drunk enough?"

"Not drunk enough," she repeated lamely. _Is that really the best response you could come up with? What are you even saying?_

"What do you mean by that?"

_I mean I'm not drunk enough to want to make out with you right now._ "I mean… that I'm not drunk enough."

He narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Do you… want to get more to drink then?" Anna saw her opening to return inside where she could be surrounded by other people and escape this situation. She nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, that's what I want to do!" Not even giving Hans time to respond, she quickly opened the door and stepped back into Trumpet House, breathing a sigh of relief. _Well, that was certainly a situation._

The first person she located was Elsa. Wanting to be near someone so she could avoid Hans, Anna quickly approached her with a smile. The older girl waved, the same lopsided smile on her face that had been there when she'd seen Elsa at Trumpet House a few weeks prior.

"Hello, Anna," she greeted, tilting her head just-so-slightly to the side. "What were you doing outside?"

"Oh, ah, Hans was… trying to hit on me, or something," Anna explained. Elsa's eyes narrowed slightly as she stepped forward, putting a protective arm around her shoulder. Anna's breath caught in her throat.

"You should stay away from Hans. He's… a bit of a scoundrel when it comes to women." She pulled Anna a little closer, giving Anna the sudden courage to place her own arm around Elsa's waist.

"Oh, it was just really amusing if nothing else," Anna admitted, trying to quell her rapidly rising heartbeat. "I mean, I've never really been hit on before."

"Really, now?" mused Elsa. "Hmmm… well, you should stay near me. I can assure you he won't hit on you if you're near me." She paused. "He's not… overly fond of me."

Anna opened her mouth to ask further about Hans when she felt Elsa begin to trace her thumb up and down the side of her shoulder. She felt her heart do a flip. It must have been the alcohol, because there was no way a sober Anna would have had the confidence to lean in closer to Elsa, rubbing her own hand up and down the girl's side. Anna felt Elsa turn her head toward her, and she glanced up to see the older woman smiling at her.

"Do you want to go sit down somewhere?" she asked, her breath warm on Anna's face. The younger girl merely nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Smiling, Elsa led the two of them to a worn couch in the back. Upon sitting down, Elsa kept her arm around Anna, pulling her close. Anna soon found her head tucked under the drum major's, her mind going through thoughts at an unheard of rate.

_Oh my god there's no way this is actually happening calm down maybe she's just a cuddly person and felt like cuddling with you and that's all just appreciate that but holy crap we're so close and oh my god don't do something stupid right now _please_ don't do something stupid right now because you're not getting this opportunity again so you better freaking enjoy it oh my god how is this my life right now. _

Anna decided that leaving herself to her thoughts for any longer would likely cause her head to implode, and thus said the first thing that came to her mind. "Why is it that Hans doesn't like you?" Elsa chuckled, and Anna's stomach somersaulted as she felt the small shake of Elsa's body that resulted from the laugh.

"I'm sure he mentioned to you that he was drum major of his high school band?" Anna nodded, her head still against Elsa. "Well, he also had intentions of being drum major of the Arendelle University band. As you can see, that didn't quite work out for him." She chuckled again. "To be fair, it was the band as a whole that voted for me over him, but he's resented me ever since."

"Ah, I see." Then it was back to the silence between them.

This time, Elsa was the first to speak up. "Tell me about yourself."

Anna blinked several times in surprise as she attempted to gather her thoughts—a task that was far more difficult than usual due to the fact that she was not only slightly drunk, but also at an extremely close proximity to the one person that consistently left her at a loss for words.

"Uhm, ah, I mean I'm from a small town a few hours away from here. I went to high school with Kristoff—but I already told you that part before, didn't I? He and I have been best buds for years. I moved a bunch when I was younger, but we finally settled down in seventh grade, which is when I met Kristoff. He lives (well, I mean, when we're at our hometown, he lives there, not like, on campus lives) down the street from me. That's how we became friends, even though he's a year older." She paused for a moment, thinking back. "I wasn't terribly good at making friends, which is kinda a thing you need to be good at when you move a lot."

"You not good at making friends? I don't believe it. You seem like you get along well with everyone." Anna's face reddened at the compliment.

"W-well a lot of that is thanks to Kristoff," she stuttered. "He always had a lot of friends, and he helped me meet people, and to learn how to, well, be myself more. It's easier to make friends when you're being yourself." Another pause. "I guess part of all of it had to do with my parents never really inviting people over. There were very few times that they had company over, and I guess I just followed suit." She faltered for a moment, then hastily added, "D-don't think that they are bad parents or anything because of that. They really are great. They love me a lot and everything. I guess keeping to themselves was their style, and I don't blame them for that or anything." _Geeze, way to bore her with your dull life story. _"Er, sorry, I guess I'm not terribly exciting."

"Don't say that," Elsa countered. "I find you… wonderfully interesting." Anna swore that there was an angry stampede of animals running around her stomach at the present moment.

"A-ah what about you, then? What's your story?"

"Not terrifically interesting," she mused softly. "I grew up about ten minutes from here. Never moved. It was expected for me to attend Arendelle University, so I did. I don't regret it at all. The band has really provided such a wonderful second family."

"A crazy, 150-person family?" Even though Anna couldn't see Elsa's face, she could tell that the older girl was smiling.

"Yes, that exactly. That's part of the reason I wanted to become drum major. So I could take care of this insane family." She took a deep breath, then, "It means the world to me."

"Well, you're doing a wonderful job!" Anna affirmed. She swore she heard Elsa's heart rate quicken for just a moment.

"Thank you," she breathed.

"I-I mean it!" continued Anna, not entirely certain where her sudden confidence was coming from. "You're such a great leader, and you do stuff like going to brunch with all of the underclassmen (which I'm, uhm, going to be at tomorrow, by the way), which is totally above and beyond what you need to do, and you're so inspiring and confident and talented and gorgeous—wait, what?" A horrified expression crossed Anna's features. _Dear god did I actually just say that last part? _She curled up in on herself slightly, attempting to shrink away out of embarrassment. To her surprise, Elsa merely laughed, once again moving her hand up and down on Anna's shoulder.

"You're adorable." _She said the thing again. Why did she say the thing again? _The memory of the last party flooded her mind. So caught off guard was she by the sudden flashback that she almost missed Elsa's next words: "I hate how much I like you."

If Anna thought her emotions were a mess before, that was nothing compared to how they were now.

_Wait did she really just say that? There's no way she just said that. Calm down she probably didn't even say that you just heard what you wanted to hear and, okay, maybe she did say that and maybe she just meant friend-like not like-like it's really entirely possible she just meant that. But then why would she say that if she's just talking about friend-like I mean that's kind of a weird thing to say but I mean she's got to be drunk right now after doing all that drinking at the Feast of Champions so maybe it's just a drunken thing that doesn't really mean anything and—_Her thoughts were cut short as she felt Elsa's chest move beneath her, obviously a result of Elsa having said something. Not having heard her, Anna titled her head up with a small, "Hm?"

Elsa gazed down at her, her eyes half-lidded and slightly hazy. A few strands of blonde hair had fallen out of place, giving the older girl an impish, if not a bit rugged, appearance. For a moment of indeterminate length, the two remained there, eyes fixed on each other. After some time, Elsa's face broke into the crooked smile from earlier. Her eyes flicked around the room quickly before once again fixating themselves on Anna.

"It's wonderful when no one's watching."

It was said so softly, the words ghosting on Anna's cheeks as gently as a breath of air. There was a moment's hesitation, and then Elsa's eyelids began to close as she tilted her head and moved toward Anna. The younger girl felt the world melt around her as she tilted her head up and Elsa caught her lips in a kiss.

In that moment, Anna's inner monologue went silent. She felt as if she was in a dream. There was no way this was actually happening to her. The kiss was gentle, tentative, but it sent electricity coursing through Anna all the same. Nothing else mattered except for the feeling of Elsa's lips against hers. Nothing else existed in the world except for the feeling of Elsa's lips against hers.

Eventually, Elsa pulled away, the smile once again on her features as her eyelids fluttered open. Anna simply stared at her dumbly, her expression one of shock more than anything else. Elsa then pulled Anna closer to her, and the younger girl once again tucked her head under Elsa's, her heart beating furiously. The dam on Anna's thoughts burst, and now they were crashing around in her head more rapidly than ever.

_Oh my god that just happened._

_ Elsa just kissed me._

Elsa_ just kissed _me_._

It didn't sound real. It couldn't have been real. People crush on the drum major all the time. Especially little freshmen. That never got reciprocated. Hell, Anna hadn't even bothered fantasizing it would happen because it just _never would_. Except for the fact that it _did_. It happened to _her_. Nothing interesting ever happened to her. How did this happen to her? How her? Of all people… how did it happen to her?

The thoughts were racing through her head too fast to process. She was vaguely aware of Elsa mumbling some other things. Things like "I've been so good about not falling for one of my freshmen" and "Why couldn't you be a junior?" Anna was still too stunned to answer. She finally snapped out of her stupor when she felt Elsa kiss the top of her head repeatedly. Once again, Anna turned her head up and this time Elsa instantly leaned in and captured Anna's lips with her own. This kiss had more intensity to it, fueled by desire and frustration. This time when Elsa pulled away, Anna's expression was one of poorly-concealed want. Too nervous to initiate anything more herself, she merely resorted to once again tucking her head beneath the drum major's.

The rest of the time spent on that couch with Elsa was a blur. She vaguely remembered her heart leaping up to her throat when Elsa whispered "if you were older, I'd take you home with me." The sentence "I hate how much I like you" was repeated over and over, each time with increasing frustration.

Anna had no idea how long the two of them had been there when Merida approached them. She was suddenly reminded that there were more people in the world than just the two of them. "Anna, we're heading back up to the dorms. You ready to head out?"

_No, I'll never be ready to leave this._

But Elsa was already getting to her feet. "Yeah," Anna mumbled with a dejected sigh. Merida headed for the door as if nothing was out of the ordinary. As if Anna's whole world hadn't just been turned upside down.

Before following her, Anna looked over to Elsa. She struggled to form the word "goodbye," but found that she couldn't even manage to say that single word. She couldn't think straight. Everything was a mess, but, at the same time, everything was wonderful.

Anna thought she heard Elsa sigh. "If you were older, I'd take you home with me," she repeated quietly, drawing Anna into a hug. The hug lasted a while, Anna unwilling to pull away, wanting the moment to last forever. Slowly, Elsa's hand began rubbing up and down Anna's back. Abruptly, she muttered, "No," and backed away quickly. She gave another quick smile. "Good night, Anna."

"Bye." The one syllable was all Anna could manage as she turned and headed for the door. Doorknob in her hand to shut the door behind her, she gave one last look over her shoulder to see that the drum major was still staring at her. It took all of her resolve to avert her gaze and close the door behind her.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Wow this chapter got long geeze I had a lot to say. Hopefully it makes up for lack of updates. I did the best to replicate the kiss memory as accurately as possible, and then as I sat around thinking about the details of the night I realized I was actually picturing Elsa instead of my old drum major. Whoops. _


	6. Brunch

_**A/N:**__ So I've realized that not everyone knows what a drum major is. It's right silly of me to have not thought of that, so I've edited the author note of chapter 1 to include a vague description of the drum major. Also, go ahead and check my tumblr to see some of the music I've put up that is supposed to be the music for the Arendelle University Marching Band's first halftime show. I even included another link on my author page that will bring you to just stuff on my blog that's A Date With the Drum Major related. Apologies for the fact that this chapter isn't quite as long, but I hope you still enjoy! I've absolutely delighted in reading every single review and have done my best to reply to all of them. You're all absolutely wonderful._

_Edit: I realized that one of the links on my profile was broken. That's what I get for updating at 3 AM. It has been fixed!_

* * *

The walk back to the dorms was a mess for Anna.

She spent the entire time wondering if anyone she was walking with had seen what had transpired between her and Elsa. The uncertainty was killing her. Sure, Elsa had said that no one was watching, but Anna honestly had no idea if that was true or not since her back had been to the rest of the room. Anna found herself in the awkward situation of trying to put on a calm face while her heart and stomach could not be kept still. She felt like she was going to burst. With what, she was not entirely certain, but she felt that way all the same.

Any time conversation was addressed at her, she spoke with what she believed to be a level voice, but nonetheless panicked that they would sense that something was off from her tone. She was immensely relieved when she got back to her dorm and could finally go to sleep so that she could stop thinking about the whole thing.

Except it wasn't quite that easy.

The whole thing was playing on repeat in her head. Everything from "do you want to go sit down somewhere?" to "good night, Anna." She saw the whole thing over and over every time she closed her eyes. After almost an hour of tossing and turning, she nearly drifted off to sleep only to have "it's wonderful when no one's watching" to flash through her brain, causing her heart to flutter and for her to be wide awake once again.

Annna rolled over to look at the clock. She groaned when she read the time. _3 AM. I've been thinking this whole thing over for nearly three hours by this point. Great. _

There was so much she wanted to say to Elsa, but at the same time so much she was too terrified to say. How much had Elsa meant what she said? She had been drunk. As much as this thought made Anna's heart sink, maybe the whole thing meant nothing to Elsa. Sure, she'd really sounded like she cared. Sure, she'd said "I hate how much I like you" only a hundred times throughout the course of the night, but maybe none of it meant anything.

Or maybe she'd meant every word, but she didn't want to be with Anna because she's a freshman. Anna couldn't blame her for that. Why on earth would the drum major be involved with a freshman? She's _the drum major._ The leader of the band. The one in charge of everything. She couldn't just be seen with some little trumpet freshman. Anna cursed under her breath. _Why couldn't I be a junior? _she lamented silently. _Then maybe this would be easier. Then maybe the two of us could work…_

_ Oh god, and there's the drum major brunch. I don't know if I can handle seeing her without completely losing it. But I've already told her I'm going to be there—I can't back out now, because then she'll think that I'm off because of what happened last night. And I'm totally not! I'm totally cool about and totally not freaking out!_ Anna knew she was lying to herself. Right now, she was as far from 'not freaking out' as she'd ever been in her entire life. But she couldn't let Elsa know that. That would completely and totally dash any chance she might have to be with the drum major, as slim as those chances were. Anna was trying to keep herself from hoping—she made it a policy not to get her hopes up for something that would never happen in order to save herself the disappointment—but she found her emotions, once again, overpowering her logical side, and the shred of hope remained.

It was around 4 AM when Anna decided that she needed to do something that was more productive that an infinite amount of "what ifs." She needed to come up with a plan. A plan to confront Elsa. Sure, even the thought of speaking to Elsa made her feel incredibly nervous and even a bit queasy, and maybe she wouldn't even like the answers to the questions she wanted to ask, but certainly _anything_ must be better than lying here, tormented by a seemingly-endless amount of questions. But what to ask?

_Hey, Elsa. So we made out last night. Yeah. How did you feel about that?_

_ Hey, Elsa. Uhm, so do you actually remember any of last night?_

_ Hey, Elsa. Er, do you want to pretend that last night never happened? I mean, because I totally don't, because it was really nice and great and everything but, like, if you want to pretend it never happened, I mean that's fine by me, whatever's good with you is good for me. _

_ Hey, Elsa. So I really like you and totally get if you don't like me back and last night wasn't a big deal to you or all or anything, because it totally wasn't a big deal to me either! Like I'm totally fine. Totally._

_ Hey, Elsa, do you wanna make out again sometime, or was that just a one-time thing?_

Impossibly frustrated, Anna buried her head into her pillow, letting out a soft, but irritated, "aghhhhhhh." This wasn't a situation she was prepared for. This wasn't a situation she'd ever thought she'd be in—a situation that she hadn't even dared to imagine herself in. And yet her she was, tossing and turning because she, the little freshman Anna, had been kissed by Elsa, the one and only drum major of the Arendelle University Winter Wolf Marching Band.

After what felt like days, morning finally came. Anna had barely slept at all, only having dozed off for maybe fifteen minutes at a time before dreams of the blonde drum major once again woke her up with a racing heart and a butterfly-filled stomach. By this point, Anna was pacing the room, nervously going over what her plan for the brunch would be. She'd ask Elsa to talk alone for a moment. That couldn't be too hard. It'd be totally casual. Then she'd just drop a couple questions regarding sober clarifications as to what had been said the previous night, figure out where the two of them stood, and then figure out where to go from there depending on what the answer was. Totally cool. Totally casual. No freaking out at all.

_Totally cool. Totally casual. No freaking out at all._ Anna continued repeating this over and over in her head as she walked about the dining hall, having shown up nearly 15 minutes early to brunch by virtue of nerves. She was continuously glancing up toward the entrance at everyone who walked in, and she couldn't tell if she was elated or crushed every time that person wasn't Elsa. As time went on, some of the other underclassmen showed up and had gotten a table, but were patiently waiting for the drum major before they got their meals.

Finally, Anna glanced up and felt as if her heart stopped. _Elsa._ The older girl was smiling as she returned her student ID to her wallet. When she glanced up and met Anna's eyes, she smiled and gave a polite wave. Anna gave a jerky wave back, her heart beating so fast it threatened to break free from her chest.

_Oh god she knows I'm freaking out she_ knows_ but I'm totally not freaking out. I'm totally cool totally casual totally not freaking out at all._

Blissfully unaware of Anna's internal monologue (or so Anna hoped), Elsa returned her wallet to her back pocket (_oh my god she keeps her wallet in her back pocket that's so adorable_) and walked over to the table of freshmen and sophomores. Everyone present greeted her, then got up to go get brunch.

Anna saw her chance. _If you're going to confront her, you have to do it now._ "Uhm, E-Elsa?" She silently cursed for tripping over Elsa's name. Regardless of Anna's stutter, Elsa turned to face her.

"Yes?" she inquired, the picture of innocence. _How is she so calm right now? My insides are bouncing around everywhere._

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Anna asked, her trembling hands fiddling with her necklace. Elsa nodded, and the two stepped off to the side to chat. _Alright, here we go. You prepared for this you know what you want to ask her—crap, what do you want to ask her again?_ Anna found that her mind had gone blank. In the meantime, Elsa was looking at her expectantly.

"A-ah, uhm, so about last night," began Anna. Elsa nodded, obviously prompting her to continue. "I, uhm." _Oh god you really can't think of anything right now can you? _Anna tried again: "Uhm, it was, well." _Yep that one was so much better. Great work. _

All of the planning Anna had done for this moment was for naught. She barely stutter out words, much less form actual complete sentences. Instead of calmly asking Elsa questions, she found herself babbling out an incoherent mess—the exact opposite of what she wanted.

"I, uhm… uhm I thought about the whole thing—the thing that happened… I couldn't get it off my mind. I barely slept." At this point, Anna mentally facepalmed. _Great and now you've sealed the deal of looking completely and totally freaked out. Why the hell did you just say you barely slept? Now she's going to be concerned and/or want nothing to do with you! _

The entire time Anna was attempting to babble out something coherent, Elsa merely nodded and smiled her distant smile. She was perfectly calm—acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Anna continued to babble.

"You, uhm… you said some things last night. H-how drunk were you?" The question was blurted out before Anna could stop herself. Heat blossomed in Anna's cheeks. Elsa looked thoughtful for a moment before replying.

"Not blackout drunk by any means, but definitely fairly drunk." Anna felt her heart sink.

"O-oh, uhm. Okay," was Anna's lame response. "I-I, uhm, well, what you said, h-how much of that was because… well you'd had stuff to drink, and I was wondering… uhm…" _What are you even trying to say? _She trailed off, gesturing with her hands as if that would somehow make her remember how to properly use language. "I, well, that is…" Now the words were just tumbling out in no particular order. Anna couldn't even remember how form a sentence. Her mind had gone completely and totally blank.

Finally, Elsa cut her off by laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You're just my little freshman," she said, as if that answered everything. She then gave what appeared to be an apologetic smile before pulling Anna into a hug. Anna, still trying to comprehend what was just said, returned the hug, only vaguely aware of what was going on. Elsa pulled away, gave another polite smile, and then walked off to get her food, leaving an impossibly confused Anna in her wake.

_Just her little freshman? _

For the remainder of the brunch, Anna was doing everything she could to keep her composure. Which was only partially working. Every time anyone spoke to her, she began to tremble uncontrollably, only barely able to stutter out a sentence. Keeping what had happened last night between Elsa and herself a secret was proving to be very difficult for the usually-extroverted Anna. Her eyes continuously were flicking over to Elsa who, for her part, was wholly calm, carrying conversation as if nothing was amiss. _Because this isn't such a big deal to her, you idiot. You're completely and totally overreacting._

The two didn't speak a word to each other for the rest of the brunch. Elsa was preoccupied speaking with all of the other underclassmen, and Anna made no effort to initiate conversation with her, not trusting herself to speak. When everyone began to head home, Elsa gave a polite wave to everyone, though Anna swore the older girl's gaze landed on her for a moment longer. Anna managed a forced smile and a shaky wave in return.

A few minutes later Anna found herself at the door to Kristoff's room. She had to tell someone. The secret was eating her apart. "Kristoff!" she yelled, banging on the door. Moments later, the door opened, revealing a disheveled Kristoff.

"Anna," he grumbled, obviously having just woken up, "Do you really need to be so loud this early in the morning?"

"It's nearly one o'clock," protested Anna. Kristoff groaned in response.

"Ugh, whatever, what do you want?" he growled, rubbing his eyes. Anna clenched her jaw in irritation.

"Can you please stop being hungover for a second?" she hissed, "I really need to talk to you about something."

For a second, Kristoff looked angry at having been so rudely awakened and already being bossed around, but he seemed to realize his friend's urgent tone as he shrugged and stepped to the side, admitting her to his dorm room. She entered immediately, ignoring the piles of clothes on the floor and flopping on top of his bed with a groan.

"Hey," he said gruffly, though not unkindly, "So what's all this about?" Anna didn't respond immediately, trying to think of the best way to phrase what she wanted to say.

"Something happened last night," she finally managed.

"Well, isn't that the statement of the century," drolled Kristoff sarcastically. She threw his reindeer stuffed animal (_Seriously, he still has that thing?_) at him in response. He narrowly dodged it, giving out an irritated, "Hey!"

"Look, I'm trying to be serious!" She was trembling all over again. "Something… something happened." Kristoff, once again, softened.

"Something bad?" he asked, his tone now one of concern.

"No!" she responded instantly. _Elsa could never be bad._ "Look I… uhm… well…" Anna took a pause to sigh, then decided to just come out with it. "Elsa kissed me last night," she whispered, barely loud enough for Kristoff to hear.

Kristoff blinked a few times, as if uncertain of what had just been said, before his eyes widened in surprise. "Like, Elsa? Elsa the drum major Elsa?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "No, Elsa the girl that I met in my class the other day—yes of _course_ Elsa the drum major. Ughhhh." She buried her face into Kristoff's pillow, immediately wrinkling her nose. "Your pillow smells gross."

Kristoff ignored the slight at his hygiene, choosing instead to focus on the more pressing concern. "Wait, what? How did that happen."

Anna rolled over to face him. "I don't even know! We were just… Hans was hitting on me, and then I went over to talk to Elsa and she was like 'oh Hans is a douche you should stay near me' and I was all 'okay' and then she was all 'let's go sit down on the couch' and I was like 'okay' and she was all 'I hate how much I like you' and I was all 'what' and she was all 'it's wonderful when no one's watching' and we _kissed_ and now I don't even know which was is up and which way is down!" Her hands went to her face. "I can't stop thinking about the whole thing," she mumbled through her hands.

Kristoff didn't respond immediately as he processed what Anna had just told him. He moved to sit down on his bed beside Anna. "Okay wow," he said finally. "You really aim for the top, don't you?"

"_Kristoff,_" she screeched, throwing his pillow at him in agitation. "This is serious! I don't know what to do! I can't… I can't stop thinking about it… Ugh this is such a mess."

"Well, uh, maybe if this is bugging you so much, you should talk to her about it," suggested Kristoff, clearly out of his area of expertise.

"I tried that. At brunch." Just thinking about the interaction between herself and Elsa caused her to wince.

"And?"

"I pretty much forgot how to use the English language. I think I formed one complete sentence, maybe two. I had all of these things I wanted to ask… and my mind just went utterly blank and I forgot every single one of them. Ugh I'm such an idiot."

"You're not an idiot," protested Kristoff. "Obnoxious and kind of loud sometimes, but I wouldn't go so far as to say an idiot." Out of things to throw at Kristoff, Anna settled for delivering a soft kick to his backside. "Ow, hey!"

"You're the worst," Anna grumbled as a smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"_I'm _not the one who punches and kicks their best friend," countered Kristoff.

"Well if you were, then I'd be out of the job." Anna was now sitting up, her legs pulled up close to her chest. She rested her chin on her knees. "I need to talk to her again. I won't be able to rest with all of these questions still going around in my head." A sigh. "But if I try to talk to her I'll just… I'll probably just make a fool of myself again. And she won't want anything to do with me anymore after that."

"Whoa whoa, hey, didn't you say she told you that she hated how much she liked you?" Kristoff interjected. Anna bit her lip.

"Well, yeah, but she also seems pretty against the whole me being a freshman thing." Anna pulled her legs tighter. "This probably doesn't mean all that much to her. It was just a kiss after all, no big deal, and I'm totally overthinking it and being stupid and obsessive." Kristoff laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, hey, don't go making any conclusions. Talk to her first. Why bother guessing how she feels when you can just ask?"

"It's not as easy as it sounds," complained Anna. "When I saw her today all I could think of was her closing her eyes and leaning in to kiss me."

"That's pretty hot." This time, Anna launched at him, hitting him with a flurry of punches.

"UGH you're the absolute worst!"

"Ow, ow, hey, cut it out!"

* * *

After spending some more time in Kristoff's room, Anna returned to her own dorm. Now in a considerably better mood thanks to bantering with her best friend, Anna sat down at her desk and opened her laptop. Opening up a blank document, she sat to write down everything she wanted to ask Elsa. Though most of the times spent with Kristoff had involved him making verbal jabs at her and her responding with more physical ones, he had eventually made a helpful suggestion. "You should write down what you want to say. That way, even if your mind blanks out, you can look at your notes and be totally fine!" Though Anna wasn't too fond of the idea of having to check _notes_ for a freaking conversation, she liked it better than the idea of embarrassing herself again as much as she had earlier that day.

For a while, Anna stared at the blank screen, uncertain of what to write. She thought back on the previous night, and was instantly filled with a million questions, none of which she was certain of how to phrase. After pressing a finger to her temple and letting out an irritated groan, she began to type.

_Do you actually have feelings for me, or was that just the alcohol talking?_

_ For clarification: there is no way anything can happen between us because I'm a freshman and you're a senior, yeah?_

_ Were I older, would that change things?_

_ I'm still awesome, right? (Side note—end with humor. Make confrontation less of a fail.)_

She smirked to herself, pleased with her own little joke. _Maybe I can actually pull this off and get some answers and have peace about this whole thing._ Just as she was thinking this, she heard the soft 'ding' of someone messaging her online and went to check her chat window. She stared at it in disbelief.

_Elsa._

_Oh my god Elsa just messaged me._

A few shocked moments later, Anna realized she hadn't even read the message itself. She quickly did so, her eyes quickly flicking across the lit screen.

'_Hey Anna,_

_I just wanted to let you know that I don't regret last night for a second, and I hope you don't either. Sorry if I freaked you out or anything. I feel bad that you lost sleep over me. It's unfortunate that you are one of my freshmen. I do really like you, and I'm glad we get to hang out during pep band. _

_-Elsa'_

Anna read the message, and then she read it again. And again. This meant Elsa was thinking about it, too. It meant something to her, too. _And she doesn't regret it, either. _Her heart was racing, though Anna wasn't sure if it was from elation, relief or anticipation.

After a sufficient period of time had passed for Anna to process the situation, she began furiously typing a response. It took her several drafts to decide exactly what she wanted to say, but she eventually settled on a message. Her heart fluttered nervously as she pressed the send button.

'_Dude, I had this whole planned thing to talk to you tomorrow. I was gonna go and not be way socially awkward. Way to mess with my plans. :P_

_No serious freaking out, just my brain being like "Wut. Never planned for something like this," which led to some loss of sleep. And I understand about me being a freshman. It's unfortunate, but I understand. No regrets here, either. As long as we can just keep hanging out at pep band, life will be fine.'_

"That seems acceptable," Anna muttered to herself. "Totally calm and cool and casual and not freaking out." When Elsa's response came a minute or two later, Anna let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding.

'_Haha well you also had a plan to talk to me this morning and that went questionably. And all of the hanging out at band will happen :-)' _

_Oh my god she gives her smiley faces noses that's the most adorable thing. _Anna quickly typed a reply.

'_That plan was also made when deprived of sleep which caused me to forget how awkward and fail I get during confrontations. I'd even written down bullet points for the new plan. This plan wasn't messing around. And, good, cuz you're awesome. I could use some more exposure to awesomeness.'_

Immediately after hitting send, Anna facepalmed_. Exposure to awesomeness? Dear god what am I writing? How do I still manage to babble even online? _

Elsa's reply was more prompt this time: _'Well now I want to hear this talk! I had no idea there were written bullet points.'_

Anna wringed her hands nervously for a moment before switching over to the document and copying the questions from earlier, including the last side note. _I'm going to be awkward no matter what_, she silently decided, _might as well try and make it also kind of an endearing kind of awkward._ She sent the message to Elsa, nervously awaiting the response.

'_You're wonderful,'_ was Elsa's reply. Anna's felt her ears redden. After another moment, Elsa continued with her response, _'I have feelings for you, but I'm in no way looking for a relationship right now. I'm just not in that place at this moment, so you being older wouldn't change things. And you are absurdly awesome. After the first pep band rehearsal I went up to Flynn and informed him that I thought you were great.'_ Anna was extremely thankful that her roommate wasn't home as her face was currently beet red.

'_Oh, haha, thanks. Okay, I just wanted to check on everything. I mean, you're pretty awesome yourself. And thanks for talking to me, I really appreciate it. Apologies for going wonky for a bit.' _

_Wonky? Really? Is that even actually a word?_

'_No need for apologies (though good use of the word wonky). See you at marching band tomorrow, and pep band on Tuesday?' _Anna found herself smiling like an idiot at Elsa's words.

'_Of course,' _was Anna's immediate response. After a pause, she made an impulse decision to add on, _'(PS. We should totally cuddle again... I mean, if that's chill with you. Because cuddling is fun.)'_

Anna spent the entire time waiting for Elsa's response fiddling with her necklace anxiously. _Oh god I overstepped my bounds I shouldn't have said anything about that what am I doing?_ When Elsa's response came, Anna's breath caught in her throat.

_'Definitely. And I'll see you tomorrow, then.'_

* * *

_**A/N:**__ So guys that online convo was almost word-for-word the convo I had with my drum major the day after we kissed guys I was a really awkward freshman. Also sorry about the lack of band in this chapter I know it breaks all of your hearts. I promise it'll be fixed in the next chapter there was just some non-band stuff that needed to happen first. And thanks for sticking with me, even with slower update times! That gosh darn school and that gosh darn band getting in the way of fanfiction writing!_


	7. Bus 3

_**A/N:**__ So the most magical thing ever happened and people made me fanart! I pretty much exploded into a thousand little pieces from excitement—you reader people are the bestest people ever!The incredible fanarts can be found on my tumblr, and I've also made separate links to them on my author page, as well as links to the songs I've imagined the Arendelle University Winter Wolf Marching Band playing at their halftime shows. Once again, thank you so much for every single, review, like, reblog… all of those things. You've made me one absurdly happy little Elsanna-shipping-fanfic-writing band geek._

_Edit: Dear lord with how much I read over my chapters before publishing them, you think I'd proofread my freaking author's note at least once. _

* * *

"Trumpets! Once you've got all of your belongings loaded up, get on the bus!" Flynn barked above the commotion. There was a flurry of movement as the band members moved to stuff their belongings—instruments, uniforms, and clothes for a day—beneath the bus, soon followed by irritated shouts as the drowsy students shoved one another out of the way, desperate to get on the bus first. It took Anna some time, but she finally made it on the bus. She looked around in dismay—none of the seats appeared open. Kristoff gave a half-hearted apologetic wave from his seat beside Dmitiri, a fellow trombone player. Her shoulders slumping in rejection, she began to wander the bus, hoping to find someone pleasant to sit beside for the next six hours.

As she neared the end of the bus, her eyes fell on a petite brunette with her hair tied back with a blue ribbon. The brunette, Belle, looked up to meet Anna's gaze. The older girl quickly patted the seat beside her, leading Anna to grin and sit down to Belle's right.

"Whew, and here I was beginning to worry I'd get stuck next to someone obnoxious on this trip!" Anna said with a sigh of relief.

"I should be thanking you," assured Belle, "Last trip, I had the misfortune of sitting next to Gaston. That lout refuses to shut up about himself." She gave an irritated _tch,_ then reached into her bag to draw out a book. "Excited for your first band trip?"

"Well, duh," replied Anna, giving her best are-you-kidding-me look. Belle chuckled.

"Well, you're in for a ride. I'm sure you've heard already, but this bus can get rather…" Here she paused a bit, searching for the proper word. "…rambunctious." For each trip, the band had to break up into several busses. Ostensibly, the divisions were just by who felt like bussing with whom, but this inevitably led to division by section. However, Anna had been informed that the differences between the busses were more than just sectional. Each bus had its own traditions—traditions that were kept secret from anyone who had never ridden the bus before. More than any other bus, Bus 3 (the bus traditionally ridden by members of the trombone and trumpet sections, among some others) had a reputation for being... well, Anna didn't even exactly know, but it certainly had a reputation.

"So I've been warned," Anna said wryly, one eyebrow raised. She looked at Belle expectantly. When the older girl realized that Anna was hoping Belle would let her in on some of the secrets, she scoffed.

"Oh, you can wait to learn about the bus yourself. We're practically on the road already." Anna pouted at Belle's words, causing her to roll her eyes. "And don't think you're getting anywhere with that expression."

Anna opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off by the sound of Flynn's booming voice.

"GOOOOOOOOD morning to the superior bus!" he shouted, standing atop two of the armrests at the front of the bus, clipboard in hand. "I'm Flynn, and I'll be your bus captain this year. Now, before we can roll out, we've got to do roll call." He glanced over to his clipboard. "Gaston?"

"To hell with you!" roared Gaston in reply. Flynn continued on, entirely unfazed.

"Hiccup?"

"To hell with you!" His response was a little less ferocious, but mischievous all the same.

"Belle?"

"Here," came the calm reply from Anna's left.

"Belle?" repeated Flynn. Belle's following eye-roll was so dramatic, her entire body practically moved along with it.

"Here."

"_Belle?_"

This time, Belle let out an audible sigh of irritation. "To hell with you," she deadpanned. Content, Flynn returned to the list in his hand, while Belle muttered something that sounded like "really a bunch of nonsense" barely loud enough for Anna to hear.

"Kristoff?"

"To hell with you!"

"Hans?"

"To hell with you!"

"Anna?"

Anna hesitated for a moment before barking back "To hell with you!" with all of the might she could muster. It was definitely the right choice, as Flynn continued down the list without sparing her a second glance.

"Tarzan?"

"To hell with you!"

"Elsa?"

Anna had enough time to have her eyes widen in surprise before a familiar, authoritative voice cut through. "To hell with you!" Anna glanced over her shoulder to the back seat of the bus to see Elsa sitting there, arms folded across her chest and looking smug. How Anna hadn't noticed her there earlier was entirely beyond her considering how much Elsa usually stood out in a room. After some time, Elsa glanced over toward Anna, giving her a small smile and a wave. Anna reddened slightly as she gave a quick smile and a wave back before immediately turning around so she was back to sitting normally in her seat. In the meantime, Flynn had finished roll call, and the bus had begun to head out.

"Alright, now that we're on our way, it's time to establish a few rules. Now, the rules are the same as always, but I'll repeat them for all of the new people or all of the morons in this band that didn't have the good grace to pay attention the first time." He left a long pause before continuing. "And now, rule number—"

"ONE!" chorused many of the members of the bus, holding one finger—a particularly rude finger—up. Anna jumped slightly in her seat and quickly did the same. By now, she'd certainly picked up that the band had a lot of absurd traditions that one learned as one went along, but new traditions never ceased to catch her off guard.

"You can get on the bus," Flynn continued, "you can get off the bus."

"But you can't get off on the bus," the rest of the band joined. Anna, never one for being entirely mature, was unable to stifle a small snort of laughter. Beside her, Belle simply began to read her book, a small frown on her face.

"Rule number—"

"TWO!"

"No number two…"

"EVER!"

"You make my bus smell, we drop off you off on the side of the road," threatened Flynn, a playful glint in his eyes. "And, finally rule number—"

"THREE!"

"What happens on the superior bus…"

"STAYS on the superior bus!"

"Marvelous, glad we've understood one another." He hopped down from his perch. "Right then, get cozy for a bit, and I'll be back later." With that, the bus resumed its normal conversation.

Flynn was now walking down the bus, headed for the back seat. When he reached the row with Anna and Belle, he stopped. "Hey there," he greeted, the characteristic grin on his face, "Hope you're excited."

Anna nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! When have I ever not been excited about a band thing?" Her section leader chuckled in response.

"Good point. Well, I hope you're ready for a long ride. It'll be another six hours before we get to Weselton College. I can see Belle's got her book ready."

Belle glanced up from the novel in her hands. "Just because you get bored of books without pictures doesn't mean that other people don't enjoy them." Flynn's hand flew to his heart, wincing as if he'd been stabbed.

"And, once again, I've been outwitted," he lamented. "I fear I must retreat to my seat and reconsider my wrongdoings." Chuckling, he retreated to the back of the bus, taking his seat beside an entertained Elsa.

Belle's expression was a bizarre mixture of amusement and exasperation. "Hm. How Rapunzel puts up with him, I'll never understand," she mused.

"Speaking of Rapunzel, where is she?" asked Anna, noting the absence of the blonde on bus.

"Oh, she's the bus captain for the horny sax bus," responded Belle nonchalantly. Anna, being the mature character that she was, once again chuckled. Bus 2, or, as it was colloquially known, the horny sax bus, was primarily ridden by mellophones (also known as horns) and saxophones. _Oh geeze. I'll never be able to hang out with sophisticated company._

After that, Belle and Anna fell into a comfortable silence. Belle continued reading her book, and Anna had reached into her bag to draw out a roll of duct tape. Making small crafts with duct tape was one of her favourite hobbies—she found that it rather suited her personality. A bit quirky, but still useful. Just as she was about to tear a small piece and begin what was going to be a duct tape flower, she became aware of another presence beside her.

"Hello, Anna." The addressed girl's eyes quickly traveled upwards to see Elsa standing in the aisle beside her. The drum major looked similar to the way she did on Anna's audition day—jeans and blue Arendelle University Marching Band t-shirt with her ever-present whistle around her neck. Her hair was tied back into the single braid, though this time she neglected to push her bangs back, instead allowing the blonde locks to dangle in front of her eyes.

"Gah—h-hello." _You are quite literally the most socially awkward person to have ever existed in the world of ever. _

"Hello, Elsa," Belle greeted, as if there were nothing difficult about speaking to Elsa. _Because for everyone else this isn't something difficult it's just you that can't manage to form a proper sentence. _"I see Flynn coerced you into riding Bus 3."

"Yes, well, while Rapunzel is off taking care of the horny sax bus—" Anna once again gave a small snort of amusement at the name, leading Elsa to raise an eyebrow. "—someone's got to keep that scoundrel in check." Elsa glanced down to the roll of duct tape in Anna's hands. "What's that for?" she asked, her head tilted ever-so-slightly to the side. Anna's gaze returned to the roll in her hands.

"Oh, uhm, well it's always been a hobby of mine to make things with duct tape," explained Anna.

"Really? Like what?"

Anna blushed, now suddenly very self-conscious about how child-like her pastime sounded. "Uhm, just kind of… random stuff. Like… wallets or flowers." She paused briefly to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. "I was actually just, uhm, about to make a rose."

"Oh, well, I'll stop bothering you, then." _You're never bothering me._ With those parting words, Elsa resumed walking about the bus, frequently stopping to greet the seated bandies. Anna hurriedly returned her gaze to the tape in her hand as she began to tear off several small pieces, carefully folding each into petals. She settled into a rhythm, becoming oblivious to the world around her. However, after some time had passed, a familiar booming voice brought her back to the present.

"Alright, I do believe it's about time for story time!" Once again, Flynn was standing atop the armrests of the seats at the front of the bus. The commotion on the bus died down as everyone diverted their attention to him. "Once upon a time, there was a marching band composed of the _greatest players in the world._" This was met with a round of cheers and applause. Flynn basked in the attention for a moment, before sweeping his arm out in a broad gesture and closing his fist—the motion used by Elsa to cut off the band during a song. Obediently, everyone fell silent.

"Now, one day this marching band was visiting Weselton College for a football game." The band responded to this statement with boos and hisses. "A few of the bandies were wandering the campus when they came across the statue of the old Duke of Wesleton himself. Naturally, they decided that this was a rather dull statute that could use some improvements." Here he took a long pause for dramatic effect. "It was some time later that the campus police stumbled upon them adding decorations to the statue… and let's just say, they were none too pleased to see the Duke of Wesleton wearing a diaper on his head. So the bandies were sent to jail!" Strangely enough, this statement was met with a round of cheers. Flynn raised an eyebrow, a smirk on his features. "Boooo," he corrected. "While they stayed the night in jail, they sang songs about the _greatest university in the world._" Another round of cheers. "And then, the next day, they were let out of prison _just_ in time to make it to the halftime show for the football game!"

"Boo!" shouted a few voices.

"Yay!" interjected Elsa from the back of the bus, leading to a round of chuckles.

Story time continued for a while longer. Each story caused Anna to both be shocked and incredibly amused—apparently, back in the day, the members of the Arendelle University Winter Wolf Marching Band had really caused their fair share of commotion. When story time was finished, Flynn once again hopped down from his perch, prompting everyone to resume their own conversations.

As time went on, more and more people were getting tired of sitting and began to wander the bus, sometimes swapping seats and sitting in different locations. Anna, having made a couple small flowers and not wanting to disturb Belle from her book, had gotten to her feet and was wandering through the aisle. As Anna was not the most coordinated person ever, walking on a moving bus was proving to require more focus than initially imagined. To her surprise, a certain blonde drum major was sitting in the row to her right, an unoccupied seat beside her.

"Can I, uh, sit here?" inquired Anna, gesturing to the open seat.

"Of course," answered Elsa. Somewhat clumsily, Anna sat down beside the older girl. "Did you finish making your flowers?"

Anna tilted her head in confusion. "Flowers? What—oh! Oh the duct tape ones. See, for some reason, I thought you were talking about real flowers and I was like, how would I have gotten real flowers on a bus, you can't grow flowers on a bus, but then I remembered you saw me working with my duct tape earlier, so you were talking about my duct tape flowers and—oh gosh, I'm doing the rambling thing again, aren't I?"

Elsa laughed, though not unkindly. "You're doing fine. So the flowers?"

"So the flowers!" repeated Anna, "Y-yeah, I finished making a couple and decided I'd stop working on them and try to be social or something so I started wandering the bus but then I was like 'wow, moving bus. Not coordinated Anna. Maybe not best combination' and then I saw the empty seat beside you and now I'm here."

Amusement twinkled in Elsa's eyes. "And now you're here." Anna felt her face start to redden. This was the first time she'd been this close to Elsa while not under the influence of a few drinks. _Well, there was also that time at brunch,_ she thought to herself wryly, _But I was a nervous wreck then, so that hardly counts._ Now, in a place that was much better lit than Trumpet House, it was even easier to see all of Elsa's gorgeous features. Her crystal clear blue eyes. Her delicate little nose. And… _oh my god does she have freckles? _They were very light, just the faintest dusting across her cheeks, but they were most certainly there. _Holy crap those are cute._

Realizing that she was staring, Anna quickly blinked a few times as she tried to remember what she'd been talking about. "S-so the flowers! I've got them right here, do you want to see them? Oh, er, well I've already taken them out so I guess it doesn't matter whether or not you want to see them, because I've already put them there, and I'm just going to shut up now." Elsa seemed to be unaware of Anna's rambling, as her attention was focused on the small flowers in Anna's hand.

"Anna, these are beautiful," she stated with complete sincerity. Anna's ears went pink at the compliment.

"R-really? Thanks! It's just a silly little thing I do, making stuff with duct tape. A weird little hobby for a weird little girl." _I'm not so certain you're doing better with complete sentences than you were with stupid half sentences._

Elsa's gaze returned to Anna. "Weird is far more interesting than normal." Her eyes once again returned to the flowers in Anna's hand.

After being stunned to silence for a moment, Anna quickly stammered out a few sentences. "U-uhm, you can have one of them if you like. The flowers, that is. You can have one of the flowers." _What else would you have been talking about? Sometimes you just say words for the sake of saying words—have you realized that yet?_

Elsa's smile widened, and Anna noted that it was the sort of smile that reached her eyes. The sort of smile that made her eyes crinkle ever so slightly—not just the polite smile she always wore. A far more genuine, meaningful smile. Anna's heart fluttered. Whether it was from seeing the smile and just how much it lit up Elsa's face, or from the knowledge that she had been the one to put the smile there, she was not certain.

"I would love one," she said breathlessly, "Are you certain it's alright?"

"Of course. I mean, I can always make more, it's no bother at all."

Delicately, Elsa reached over to take a small blue-and-white duct tape flower from Anna's palm. Her fingertips grazed Anna's skin ever so slightly, causing Anna to shudder. "Thank you," she whispered, her fingers tracing the design on the petals.

"Oh, no trouble at all, really. In fact I think it looks nice. With you. The flower. I mean it looks nice with your eyes and all since your eyes are blue and the flower's blue. Like your eyes. Wait, I already said that part and I'm just going to stop talking now before I hurt myself any further." As if to secure this, Anna clamped a hand over her mouth and averted her gaze, eliciting a laugh from the older girl.

"Thank you." A pause. "Tell me more about yourself." It was spoken so casually, as if she were asking something as simple as the time of day. Anna removed the hand from her mouth.

"Uhm, okay." _You really need to cut it out with the 'uhms' or else she's going to think you actually have a speech problem. Which, let's be real, you probably do. _"So, actually, trumpet isn't my first instrument. I play piano as well. I even tried my hand at writing piano pieces before and I think they came out not _too _terrible."

"I'm sure they sound lovely," Elsa assured her.

"Oh, they're okay. I mean they're fine. Like, you could listen to one of them if you wanted. I kind of made some recordings of them. They're not terribly good, don't be expecting too much, but I mean I did work hard on them and I think they're alright. I can send you one of the recordings."

"I would love that," breathed Elsa. Anna felt her heart skip a beat as her blush furthered.

"O-okay, I can do that. The quality isn't great since I just recorded them in my basement without any good mics or anything. I thought about asking my band director for some help on the matter, but he always seemed to be a tad disorganized (which is saying a lot, coming from me and all). Which reminds me, there was this one time back in high school when I was playing in the pit orchestra for our school's musical and suddenly our band director got like, violently ill, and he had to leave in the middle of a show so then we were suddenly without a conductor like halfway through act one, so then…."

Elsa and Anna chatted for quite a while. As time went on, Anna relaxed more and more, though she practically died of embarrassment when she nearly punched Elsa in the face while gesturing as she talked animatedly. Anna talked about her many absurd adventures with Kristoff. Elsa gave little anecdotes about her time as a freshman at Arendelle University.

"…and the drum major just kept asking for this big crescendo from us all and it ended with this big drum hit and one day I just played it so hard one of my sticks snapped in two," explained Elsa, looking a little guilty. Anna found it difficult to believe that someone who looked so delicate was capable of snapping a drumstick in two.

"No way!" she stated in disbelief. "Then what did you do?"

Elsa laughed. "Well, there's a reason drummers carry extra sticks with them. Though it's usually for dropped sticks, not broken ones. Either way, after a brief moment of shock, I took out one of my extra sticks and resumed marching." She smiled sheepishly. "I admit that I was a little proud. I still have half of the stick in my room. It's anyone's guess to where the other half is by this point."

At one point, the two were interrupted from their conversation by Flynn once again standing at the front of the bus, this time leading the band in a rousing rendition of the Arendelle University fight song, except with many of the lyrics changed. The song now glorified the marching band, referencing their status as the greatest marching band in the world, and also made remarks to the nature of their ability to drink any other band under the table. Anna noted that Elsa was giving a look of mock disapproval the entire time, though she did join in with the lyrics, albeit softly.

Time flew as they talked and, next thing Anna knew, they'd arrived at Weselton. She bit back a sigh of disappointment. _I guess all good things have to come to an end at some point._ Elsa turned over her shoulder to glance out the window at the landscape.

"Well, looks like we're here." She turned back to Anna. "Everyone will have some time to walk around town and get dinner before we have to go to the hotels for the night." Anna looked out the window past Elsa.

"But what if I get lost?" she complained. "I have an unfortunate affinity for getting lost." Elsa chuckled.

"Well, I'll give you my phone number. You can call me if you get lost." After taking a few moments to give Anna her number, Elsa excused herself with a genuine, "It has been lovely talking to you." Her hand glided down the side of Anna's head, stroking her hair in one quick motion, before she walked back to her initial seat to get her belongings.

It took Anna a bit to process the situation. _Holy hell did you just get her number? How did you manage that one? And she touched your hair again ohmygod that happened again okay wow. _

"GOOOOD afternoon to the superior bus!" Flynn bellowed from the front of the bus as it finally came to a halt. "We've got a grand total of two hours to get food and explore this disgusting place, then you better get your asses back to this bus or we're taking off without you."

The bus was soon filled with the commotion of students getting their belongings in order and filing out of the bus in a more-or-less organized fashion. Anna found herself falling in with the other trumpets as they searched for somewhere to eat, but she cast one last look of longing after the blonde drum major, who was walking in a distinctly different direction. She gave one small sigh, then resumed her cheery demeanor as she ran up to walk beside Merida.

"So, about that statue of the Duke of Wesleton…"

* * *

"But what if I accidentally start marching the first show?"

"Anna, you know that's not going to happen."

"You don't know that! I've never had to learn more than one show in a year! What if my brain totally blanks on this show and I end up going to a set from the first show and crash into the entire tuba section?"

Kristoff rolled his eyes. "Then you get trampled and I begin the overdue search for a new best friend."

"Kristoooooff," whined Anna, "This is serious! And there's another band here and everything and what if I make our band look bad in front of them and then everyone will be upset with me!"

Kristoff snorted. "You could collapse in the middle of the field and have everyone trip over you and we'd still look better than the Wesleton band."

"That's not helping!" Her best friend finally gave a sigh and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Seriously, you're going to be totally fine. You know all of this. You never got this nervous in high school, what's got at you now?" When Anna bit her lip and averted her gaze, Kristoff's shoulders slumped in understanding. "Oh, don't tell me you're all worried about impressing Elsa." Anna's gaze returned to Kristoff, her eyes pleading. "Sheesh, you've improved at marching about a thousand fold since high school. You know all of this." The buzzer than sounded out, signaling the end of the first half. "And that's our cue. Time to march."

Taking a breath to steel herself, Anna took her place at the sideline. As usual, when the announcer began to speak, Elsa strutted out to the middle of the field with flawless form. She began to twirl her mace, again finishing with a large toss and a perfectly-executed salute. She called the band to attention and got them marching out onto the field, taking her spot at the top of the podium. Her hands bounced ever so slightly in the air as she got the tempo, before she fully began conducting with a cry of, "One, two! Two, two!"

The Arendelle University Winter Wolves Marching Band's second halftime show had a classical theme. Anna herself found that she preferred the bright energy of their first show, but she also found that there was one part in their version of Gustav Holst's Jupiter that made Elsa absolutely glow every time it was played. That, of course, made the classical show far better than the Latin show could ever hope to be.

Despite all of her worrying, Anna marched the entirety of the show without a single flaw. After they'd exited the field to watch the Wesleton band (which, as foreshadowed by Kristoff, was extremely lackluster in comparison to the booming Arendelle University Marching Band), they returned to the stands for the second half of the game.

It was beginning to get dark by the time the game finished. Exhausted from long hours of travel and not many hours of sleep, the band made its way back to the bus. Stripping out of their uniforms on the side of the road, they quickly returned their instruments and uniform bags to their locations beneath the bus. Once they'd gotten back on the bus, Flynn once again read out roll call and the rules, which went more or less the same as it had gone the first time through. After they'd been on the road for a while, Anna glanced over her shoulder to see that Elsa had moved to a seat a few rows up, as Flynn was currently sprawled across the two seats in the back, fast asleep. Anna hesitated a moment, her eyes quickly flicking over to ensure that Belle was indeed reading her book and that she wouldn't offend the older girl by leaving, then managed to work up the confidence to approach Elsa.

"Hello," Elsa greeted Anna as she sat down beside her.

"I've come to take you up on your offer of cuddles," Anna stated as she stifled a yawn, trying to ignore the blush that threatened to creep onto her cheeks. She was honestly surprised at herself that she'd just been so forward without turning into a stuttering mess. Elsa's eyes crinkled as her smile grew.

"Of course. Come here." Obediently, Anna slid up close to her, tucking her head beneath Elsa's. It wasn't long before Anna felt Elsa's breaths slip into the steady rhythm of sleep. Her own heart was beating incredibly fast as a result of the close proximity to Elsa. However, after some time, exhaustion won out, and she drifted into a content sleep.

* * *

_**A/N**__: For all who are curious as to what exactly the duct tape flower looks like, I've made a small duct tape flower and put it up on my tumblr. Also, "One, two! Two, two!" is how one counts off a song in two. In order to give the band more time since there are only two beats per measure, the drum major will usually count off two measures instead of one (or at least, that's how I always do things). Previously, their halftime show started with a song in four, which is counted off "one, two, three four!" Because I feel the need to impress my band knowledge on you all. Whoo band!_


	8. TrumpetClarinet

_**A/N:**__ So my delightful readers have gone and made me a TV Tropes page! As a troper myself and an avid believer of TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life, I am absolutely delighted by this. A link to it can be found on my profile. Feel free to add any tropes to it that you see fit! I'd feel a bit weird adding to the list myself, so it's all up to you guys! I've also gotten some more fanart (AHHHH SO EXCITING AHH) and have made links on my profile, as well as adding to the music list. _

_Once again, thank you so much for sticking with me and my silly little story. The positive response from you guys are the highlights of my day. Enjoy!_

* * *

Anna was nervously glancing from the body of the email she'd composed to the nearby send button. She bit her lip, re-reading the text over and over.

_Hey, Elsa. You said you wanted to listen to a recording of something I wrote. It's not super exciting or anything, but, I mean, I'm pretty proud of it. Here you go!_

Just a few lines. No babbling this time. Calm and to the point without any unnecessary words. Easy enough.

_Then why don't you freaking hit send?!_

After another moment's hesitation, Anna let out a sigh as she quickly pressed the send button. _There, was that so hard?_ The answer was apparently yes, because now Anna couldn't stop thinking about how Elsa would react to the email. _God, you're obsessive._

"Well, might as well make it a productive obsessive," she mumbled to herself as she clicked to open up Facebook. A few clicks later and she was staking Elsa's photos. _Stalking's such a harsh word. More like… doing research. Yeah. That's it. _

She lazily scrolled through the photos, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips when she got back to photos from the time before Elsa had ascended to the podium. _God, it's so weird to see her in one of the non-drum major uniforms. _It definitely humanized her a bit more—made her a bit more mortal. Once upon a time, she was just another member of the marching band.

_No, never just another member, _Anna mentally corrected herself. _She was always something more. Something incredible. _

It wasn't long before Anna found herself at photos from Elsa's freshman year. There weren't too many pictures, but Anna couldn't help but notice that Elsa's entire posture seemed much more relaxed—excluding the photos from when she was marching, that is. In any picture of the band performing, Elsa had the perfect mask of seriousness on her face, her eyes trained upward as she undoubtedly played all of her parts with unrivaled precision, the familiar air of confidence surrounding her. However, as adorable as the expressions of concentration were, Anna was more drawn to the few pictures that existed of Elsa outside of performing. In these pictures, everything from her expression to the way she stood was more casual. The smile Elsa always wore—the polite one that constantly graced her lips—was nonexistent in the photos. No, when she smiled in these photos, it was a different smile. A much broader smile. A smile that reached her eyes.

Finally, there was one photo that made Anna stop her constant clicking. Her jaw dropped open slightly. The photo was one of Elsa at rehearsal her freshman year. The blonde had her hair back in the characteristic braid, though it was of a much more sloppy variety than the current Elsa would tolerate. Over her shoulders and on her chest was a harness, a snare drum suspended in front of her. What struck Anna the most was the fact that Elsa's head was adorned with a backwards baseball cap. The drumline had a tradition of ordering baseball caps for the section each year for them all to wear during rehearsal. It hadn't clicked in Anna's head that Elsa, perfect graceful Elsa, would have also worn a baseball cap back when she was in the drumline. In the picture, Elsa's shoulders were slumped in exasperation as she made an over-exaggerated irritated face, pointing her drumsticks in the direction of the drum major. Everything about it—her poor posture, the messy braid, the backwards baseball cap, her improper expression—was so unlike the elegant Elsa that Anna knew. It was the smallest thing, but it was able to shatter the impeccable image of the flawless drum major Elsa.

And that somehow made her even more perfect.

Anna let out a small groan. She really did have it bad. Earlier that week at rehearsal, she'd gotten distracted admiring Elsa and, subsequently, forgotten where she was in the music and nearly earned herself a painful smack in the head by cutting it far too close with an overzealous member of the colour guard. Kristoff had mocked her for it later.

"It's not fair," she'd complained. "How am I supposed to focus on marching when my drum major is a freaking goddess?"

The only answer he had at that point was a shrug of his shoulders. She knew he wanted to support her, but she also knew he didn't want her to get her heart broken, which is precisely what would happen if she pursued this.

Another sigh. Cuddling with Elsa on the bus ride had been heavenly. But it didn't mean anything—it couldn't have meant anything. Elsa was very clear on not looking for anything between them. They were just friends. Friends who cuddled, but just friends. _And I can live with that. I can live with friends who cuddle. That's a lot more than I deserve to expect anyways, so I'm perfectly content with what I've got. _

_ Are you really, though?_

Anna's face fell into her hands. _Stop it. Don't get your hopes up. You only get hurt that way._ But Anna was a creature of emotion, not logic, and the excuses she was making for herself were wearing thinner by the day. Their kiss flashed through her head at the most inopportune times. The words "I hate how much I like you" regularly plagued her thoughts.

She glanced toward the clock. 9:30. _Guess I better get ready for the party tonight._ That night, Trumpet House was hosting a mixer between the trumpet section and the clarinet section. Anna wasn't terribly excited about it because it meant no Kristoff, but her roommate, Snow, was in the clarinet section, so she knew she couldn't skip. After one last glance at the photo of freshman Elsa, Anna closed her laptop and began to get ready for the night's party.

* * *

The trumpet/clarinet mixer had a frozen Hawaii theme (Flynn would not explain the logic behind this, simply stating that this party had been themed in this manner for generations). The outfits ranged from bikini tops to snowpants, with some crossover between the two. Anna herself had settled for a rather simple flowery shirt Hawaiian part, and then a pair of snowboots for the frozen part. Yes, it was a tad silly, but no sillier than Eric wearing swimming shorts and goggles along with a pair of robust winter mittens.

Trumpet House had also been decorated accordingly. Both snowflakes and flowers were haphazardly attached to the walls, and Flynn had set up a small bar where he was serving piña coladas while dressed in a gaudy shirt with several leis around his neck. When Anna had approached the bar for a drink, he'd grinned and placed a lei around her neck. "Congrats, you've just been lei'd!" he said through his smirk. Red-faced, she'd grabbed a cup with a cute little umbrella in it and immediately started drinking its contents.

As much as Anna tried to enjoy herself, she couldn't stop wishing that Elsa were at the party. She knew there was no reason for the drum major to be there—after all, it was a party for the clarinets and the trumpets, and she was neither of those—but she couldn't help but wish it all the same.

A few drinks later, Anna had noticeably perked up. One of the umbrellas from the drinks had found its way into her hair one way or another, and she giggled as she missed the cups in pong for the sixth turn in a row.

"Whoops, sorry, Merida," she apologized to her partner. "I warned you that I'm not terribly good at this game."

"That's the last time I pick you as me partner," huffed Merida, playfully elbowing Anna, which lead to more giggles.

The game was over shortly, and Anna retired to the couch, another piña colada in hand. She heard the door open and immediately jerked her head toward the sound for not the first time that night. _Calm down there's no way it's her there's no way it's…_

_ Elsa._

The blonde drum major gracefully stepped through the doorway, and Anna was half-surprised everyone didn't stop what they were doing to stare at her. She was so captivating and entrancing—she deserved everyone's attention. But, instead, everyone continued on laughing and drinking, oblivious to the fact that a being of unrivaled beauty had just entered the room.

Elsa's only contribution to the party's theme was a blue lei around her neck and a blue flower in her hair. _Wait… that's not just any flower… _Anna's eyes widened and her heart did several flips. _Oh my god that's the flower I made her! She's wearing the duct tape flower. The flower that I made. She's WEARING THE FLOWER oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my—_

"Anna?" Somehow, Anna had missed the fact that Elsa was now standing two feet away from her.

"E-Elsa! You're wearing my flower!" Anna blurted out immediately, getting to her feet. Elsa smiled and raised her hand to her hair.

"Yes, I'm really fond of it, and I thought it might look nice," she explained.

"It looks beautiful! The flower, that is. I mean, _you_ look beatutifuller—I mean, you don't look fuller, I don't mean fuller, but more… more beautiful," she trailed off, flustered.

Elsa's eyes crinkled upwards in the way that Anna found absolutely adorable. "Thank you. Now, that drink in your hand looks absolutely delicious, and I think I'll go bother the bartender for one. Care to join me?" Anna mutely nodded in response, trailing Elsa as she made her way over to Flynn.

"Elsa, you made it!" he greeted her as he poured another round of drinks. "Finally—I was getting really bored with all of these dull clarinet folks."

"_Flynn_," she chided him.

"What? I can't help it that they're a dull section."

"Be polite."

"Yes, mother," he replied sarcastically, handing her a cup.

"Much better," she chimed as she took the umbrella out of the cup to take a sip. After a small hum of content, she looked thoughtful for a moment before placing the umbrella in Anna's hair beside the first one. "It seems as if you have a collection growing." To this, Anna could form no response. Her mouth simply opened and closed repeatedly, leading Elsa to hide a giggle behind her hand.

"Looks like people are starting up a game of slap cup over there," Elsa informed her, gesturing to a group of trumpets and clarinets surrounding a circular table. "Want to go join?"

"Uh, well, I have no idea how to play," admitted Anna.

"It's easy enough. I'll show you." There was absolutely no way Anna could refuse that.

As promised by Elsa, the game was indeed simple. There were a large number of cups in the middle of the table, all except one containing a small amount of beer. The cup in the dead center, affectionately termed the Death Cup, was instead filled with an entire can of beer. At any given time, two people around the table would have an empty cup and a ping pong ball. The aim of the game was to bounce the ball off the table and into the cup. Doing this successfully meant passing the ball and cup to the person to the left. If the person on the left was currently attempting to bounce their own ball into their cup, the victorious person would slap their cup away, forcing that person to take one of the partially filled cups, drink the beer, and then resume attempting to bounce the ball into the cup. The game also had the small caveat that, if one were to bounce the ball into their cup on the first try, they would not simply have to pass it to the left. Instead, they could pass it to anyone on the table, potentially setting someone up for disaster. Game continued until all of the cups were gone, with the Death Cup being the cup taken last.

Elsa stood to Anna's right, promising to take it easy on her. Anna, however, soon discovered that she was much, much better at this game than she was at pong. When Anna and Eric—the people to the left and right of Elsa, respectively—had the cups, Anna sunk her ball on the first try, leading her to quickly pass the cup to Elsa. The older girl didn't even have the chance to try and bounce the ball in before Eric, too, had successfully gotten the ball into his cup. He quickly slapped Elsa's cup away to laughter from the group. In a very uncharacteristic manner, Elsa's mouth formed a little "o" of surprise. Anna attempted to hide her laughter behind her hands, but she was failing miserably. Elsa's expression then morphed into one of deviousness as she swiftly downed a cup of beer and resumed playing.

Minutes later, and the Death Cup was the only one remaining. Despite Elsa's effort, Anna hadn't had a single drop of alcohol. Everyone was shouting animatedly at every occurrence. The stakes were higher than ever. Each time Anna got the ball in her cup, she breathed a sigh of relief, only to find another cup in front of her immediately thereafter.

Elsa and Anna were the two ones with the pong balls when Anna accidentally knocked her ball off the table. Panicked, she rushed to go get the sphere before Elsa sunk her own ball and, therefore, caused Anna to drink from the death cup. As she fumbled around on the ground, heart racing as she desperately searched for the white orb, she heard sudden howls of laughter and glanced up at the table. Elsa had gotten her ball into a cup, yes, but she'd gotten it into the death cup. Which, in turn, meant she had to drink the death cup. Anna's jaw dropped open in surprise.

_ I can't believe she made such a careless mistake! _

After the laughter died down, the band members began to chant as Elsa took the reviled cup in her hand, her lips curved upward ever so slightly. "Here's to Elsa, to Elsa, to Elsa! Here's to Elsa, she's with us tonight! She's dashing, she's daring, she smells like a herring! HERE'S to Elsa, she's with us tonight! So DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! DRINK!"

By this point, Elsa had raised the loathed cup to her lips and was downing its contents as they continued to chant. Finally, she finished the cup and placed it on the table, a triumphant smirk on her face. There was a round of applause, and then movement to start up another game.

"Well, I think I've had enough of slap cup for one night," stated Elsa, leading to some more chuckles. Her gaze flickered over to Anna for a fraction of a second, causing Anna's breath to catch in her throat. However, she then exited the room without a word. After biting her lip in hesitation, Anna decided to follow.

"Hey!" Anna called after her, causing the blonde to turn around. "That game was a lot of fun, thanks for, uhm, showing me how to play!"

Elsa smiled. "I wouldn't have taught you how to play if I knew you'd be so good at it," she joked.

"Oh, well, I wouldn't say I was _that_ good at it," Anna said with a forced chuckle and a dismissive wave of her hand.

"You're talking to the one who landed the ball in the death cup," replied Elsa wryly.

"Oh, well…" Anna paused, fumbling around awkward. "Uhm, well, you… you could have gotten me out and… and you didn't. You got the death cup on purpose, didn't you? So that I wouldn't have to?" Elsa's following silence confirmed Anna's guess. "You… you didn't have to do that."

"Maybe not," admitted Elsa. "But I chose to."

Anna's face reddened. "T-thank you," she stammered, taking a step closer to Elsa, the proximity only causing her blush to grow.

Elsa's current expression was even more difficult to read than usual. After what looked like an internal debate, Elsa finally suggested, "Why don't we go sit down?" Anna hurriedly nodded, and the two soon found themselves seated on a couch beside one another, Elsa's arm around Anna's shoulders and Anna's head tucked beneath Elsa's. It was an all-too-familiar position that caused memories to dance through Anna's hazy mind.

"The song you sent me was beautiful," Elsa said abruptly, breaking the silence.

Anna blinked in confusion. "Uhm, what song?"

Elsa chuckled. "The one you wrote, dear."

Another blink. "Oh." Eyes widening. "_Oh_, that one! See, I couldn't remember if we'd maybe talked about some other song and you might have gone and looked it up or something, and you were saying that song was good, but you were talking about that other song, the little one I wrote and… o-oh, I guess I didn't say thank you, so thank you, I'm really glad you liked it."

Elsa laughed again, rubbing her hand up and down Anna's side. "You're far too adorable."

"O-oh." Anna's voice was barely more than a squeak. "U-uhm, thanks?"

"You're very welcome." The two fell into a comfortable silence. Anna wasn't sure which was more intoxicating—the several piña coladas she'd had or Elsa's scent. Anna couldn't place why, but the older girl's scent had something to it that was just so comforting. She smelled like curling up in a fresh blanket on a snowy winter's day.

This time, it was Anna who broke the silence. "I've really liked getting to know you better." The alcohol was making her bolder than usual.

"And I you," replied Elsa, as formal as ever. "You really are something wonderful."

"M-me?" stuttered Anna in disbelief. "Are you crazy? You're the wonderful one! You're so… so talented and smart and everyone loves you and, I mean, you're the freaking _drum major_. It doesn't get much more awesome than that!"

Elsa's chuckle was a little sadder this time. "Oh, Anna," she began, shifting so that she was looking at Anna, "I wish you understood how absolutely amazing you are."

This comment was definitely too much for Anna to handle. Her face turned bright red and she quickly buried herself in Elsa's shoulder. "T-t-t-t-t-thanks," she stuttered out after a long pause. "I, uhm, I, uhm, well." _Okay stop talking now there is no way you will succeed in talking right now. _

It took a bit, but Anna eventually recovered from her state, and the two fell into a casual conversation about nothing in particular. Anna found herself occasionally staring at Elsa's lips, but then looking away before the older girl could notice. At one point, the two were approached by Merida.

"Anna, we're heading back to the dorms. You ready?"

So it was the same thing as last time._ No. Of course I'm not. Of course I don't want to leave this._ However, this time Elsa didn't stand up. "Do you want to leave right now?" she asked. Anna shook her head. Elsa's resulting smile was almost tangible. "Okay, then. I'll walk you up later. That sound okay with you?" Anna nodded enthusiastically, her heartbeat picking up its tempo. Elsa turned to address Merida. "I'll make sure she gets back okay." Not being one to argue with the drum major, Merida merely nodded and headed out. Meanwhile, Anna struggled to calm her racing heart.

_Oh my goodness we're going to walk home together that means we'll be alone together for a while oh god oh god oh god._

"Anna, you okay?" Elsa's expression was one of concern.

"Y-yeah, of course!" _Will there ever be a day you don't trip over your words while around her? _"I'm, uh, fine. Thanks for offering to walk me home."

"I'm happy to do it," she said as she traced a finger up and down Anna's shoulder.

"Where is it that, uhm, you live, anyways?" inquired Anna.

"Oh, I live with a bunch of the other drummers. We have a Drum House equivalent to Trumpet House, except it usually gets referred to as North Mountain since it's located annoyingly far uphill." She rolled her eyes. "Really, it's not that bad, most people just like to complain, but I will say that I'm fond of the nickname."

"Oh," replied Anna lamely. The two fell into a comfortable silence. After some time had passed, it was broken by Elsa.

"You ready to head back?" she asked. This time, Anna nodded, and the two got to their feet. "Here," Elsa said, picking the umbrellas out of Anna's hair. "You might want to leave these here."

Anna tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "T-thanks." The two headed for the doorway. Anna quickly shrugged on her coat as Elsa held the door for her, then the door had closed behind them and the two were outside.

In the time since the party had begun, it had started to rain slightly, though not overly much as to be an inconvenience. Once they were a couple paces down the road, Elsa turned to Anna and extended her hand. Anna stared at it dumbly for a moment before she realized that Elsa meant to hold her hand. Anna was fairly certain she was shaking all over as she reached to intertwine her fingers with Elsa's. The older girl smiled at her, then resumed walking.

_Okay I did not see that one coming at all holy crap we're holding hands we're holding hands wow her hand is really nice and soft and smooth and perfect just like the rest of her. _

"So, how are you liking the second show?" Elsa queried, snapping Anna out of her thoughts.

"It's great! I mean, I gotta say, I'm not terribly interested in classical music myself, but I'm really enjoying these marching band renditions of the songs. Especially Jupiter." Elsa's eyes lit up.

"Jupiter is my favourite," she commented.

"I know." When Elsa raised a quizzical eyebrow, Anna hurriedly continued. "There's a part of the song that you always just light up at. The 3/4 part where the mellophones have the melody. I mean, you know what part I'm talking about obviously. You just… absolutely glow the entire time. You look so serene and happy and…" she trailed off when she realized that Elsa had slowed her walking to look at her. Blushing, Anna averted her gaze. "S-sorry, that's weird that I noticed all of that, isn't it?"

"No, not at all," Elsa affirmed. "It's… very sweet of you." She resumed walking. "You are so very sweet." A sigh. "I don't want to break you."

"B-break me? You won't do that!" Anna hastily countered. "I'm pretty sturdy. You can ask Kristoff! One time I was trying to climb a tree and I fell right on top of him and I was totally fine! I mean, of course, I expected him to catch me, but we both ended up alright in the end."

"You lost sleep over me," Elsa reminded her.

"Oh, that, well, that was just my brain going into overdrive," explained Anna. "I had kind of gotten put in a situation that I'd never expected to be in, uhm, ever, so my brain just kind of had issues with figuring out what to do with all of that, and now I'm okay, and it's all good, and I'm totally fine!" _Yes good this is the speech patterns of someone who is totally fine. You're rocking this one._

A few more seconds of silence had passed, before Anna quietly, but firmly, added, "You won't break me." Elsa smiled sadly.

"That's what you think." She paused to sigh. "I, unfortunately, don't have the most wonderful track record. Keeping you away from me is what would be best for you but…" She gave a humorless chuckle and shook her head. "Maybe I'm just too selfish because I just can't seem to keep myself away."

"Hey, give me some credit. I can watch out for myself," pouted Anna.

"I know you can, dear. But…"

"No buts," declared Anna. "You don't have to protect me. I'm not afraid." Elsa's smile morphed into a more genuine one. Feeling emboldened by this, Anna continued on. "Look, I know you said that a relationship can't happen between us, and I understand all of that, but does that mean that nothing at all can happen between us?"

Elsa looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. "I just want to get to know you better." _Cryptic and vague. Something clear-cut would definitely have been much too easy, wouldn't it?_

"Well, I mean, if you want me to work on not having feeling for you and stuff, I could, y'know, do that. Whatever makes you happy," voiced Anna.

Elsa quirked an eyebrow. "I should be the one looking out for you. It's my responsibility to protect you."

"But other people being happy is what makes me happy, so whatever's good with you is good for me," stated Anna genuinely. Elsa laughed.

"You really are absolutely wonderful." At this, Anna flushed and stumbled, recovering quickly as she muttered something about having one too many drinks. Elsa glanced around them. "Well, fortunately enough for you, it looks like we've made it to your dorm." Anna blinked several times in surprise as she realized that the two of them were standing several feet outside of the entrance to her building. _Wow, that walk went far too fast._

Elsa turned back to Anna, bringing the younger girl into a hug. Anna grasped her tightly, not willing to let go. Not willing to leave this moment.

Slowly, Elsa pulled back from the hug, only making it about halfway before stopping to rest her forehead against Anna's. The younger girl could feel every single one of Elsa's breaths on her face. Her insides were throwing some sort of absurd, wild party, and it was taking all of Anna's self-control not to let her gaze fall to Elsa's lips. Anna drew in a shuddering breath, then let out a small chuckle.

"It would be so much easier for you to forget about me than it would be for me to forget about you, wouldn't it?" Anna whispered. Elsa smiled, but her eyes reflected sadness.

"That's precisely why we can't be a thing," she said, her voice laced with regret. "I'll be gone at the end of this year and you… you've still got so much time here. So much to learn. So much to experience. I don't want to break any of that for you."

"Of course you wouldn't do that," assured Anna. "I mean, I know that you'd be leaving at the end of the year and of course I wouldn't expect beyond that but… I mean, for the time being…"

Elsa gave another sigh, a rueful smile on her face. "I don't want you falling in love with me."

Anna blinked in surprise at the comment. Her expression turned playful in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Oh, now don't you go getting cocky. Sure, I like you and all, but that doesn't mean I'll fall in love with you." Elsa laughed at this. Her crystal blue eyes stared into Anna's teal ones, and Anna found herself thinking that she could get lost in Elsa's eyes forever. Without explanation, Elsa leaned back, an adoring smile on her face. The streaks on her face left by raindrops made her glisten in the pale light provided by the streetlamps. Anna shuddered as Elsa lifted a hand to brush a lock of red hair from her face. She lost the hold on her self-control and found her gaze falling to Elsa's lips. Quickly correcting herself, she looked back up to see that Elsa's eyes were trained on her own lips. Before she had time to process this, Elsa leaned in and pressed her lips to Anna's.

The effect was dizzying. Anna felt her knees begin to weaken as her every thought was overwhelmed with Elsa, Elsa, _Elsa._ She was grateful when Elsa brought an arm around her back to both steady her and bring her closer. In response, Anna threw her arms around Elsa's neck, rising to the tops of her toes to remedy the height difference. Her senses were wild and alive. She felt like running, like jumping, like flying, but at the same time not, because there was no where she wanted more to be than here, right now, with Elsa.

After a moment of indeterminate length, Elsa pulled away, a serene smile on her face. Anna forced a smile back at her, attempting to mask her sorrow at the fact that Elsa had pulled away much too soon for her liking. "I'm sorry I'm weak," Elsa breathed.

"Don't apologize."

"No, I'm your drum major, and it's my responsibility to protect you, but I…" she trailed off again as her eyes betrayed her thoughts by flicking down to Anna's mouth. She once again closed the gap between them, bringing their lips together.

Elsa's lips were sweet, tasting faintly of pineapple from the piña coladas. Every single one of Anna's senses were completely overwhelmed by everything that was Elsa. The taste of her lips. Her rain-cloaked scent. The feel of Elsa's arms around her. In that moment, she knew Elsa more than she knew anything else in the world. More than she knew her own name.

Once again, Elsa pulled away far too fast for Anna's liking. She pressed her forehead to Anna's, her thumb tracing circles on Anna's hand. "I should go," she whispered finally.

_No._ "Okay." _This has been impossibly incredible._ "It's been really nice."

A smile. "Yes, it really has." Elsa leaned to press a gentle kiss to Anna's rain-soaked forehead. "Goodnight, Anna." Her fingers lingered on Anna's for a moment longer before she turned to walk away. Anna stood there and watched as she faded into the night. When she began to shiver from the rain, she finally tore her gaze away from Elsa's retreating figure and left for the safety of her dorm, the sweet taste of her drum major's lips still lingering.


	9. Anastasia

_**A/N:**__ So I've decided to change the rating to M, just to allow myself a little more freedom. Now now, don't get too excited just yet. Perhaps I've just decided to change it to allow myself a little more leniency on cussing. Perhaps I've changed it for… other reasons. WHO KNOWS but for the time being nothing's really changed, but I just wanted to let you all know._

* * *

_Ugh how is this dining hall so full? I'm never gonna find a table._

A full plate in one hand and a glass filled to brim with apple cider in the other, Anna frantically searched the room for somewhere to sit. Unfortunately, it appeared that half of campus decided to come here for dinner because not a single table was unoccupied. Anna groaned.

_Well, I mean, it looks like there's a nice piece of floor over there in the corner…_

It was at that moment when Anna's eyes fell on Anastasia. The mellophone player was sitting at a table by herself, casually slouched in her chair with one open seat across from her. As per the usual, her hair was tied back in a ponytail of sorts. During rehearsals, Anna noticed that Anastasia's hair would always slowly slip out of her ponytail, eventually leading to most of her hair being unbound until it was difficult to tell if her hair was ever really tied back at all. For her part, Anastasia never seemed to care altogether much.

Anna bit her lip. She'd only spoken to the older girl once before at a party… but, considering her only other option was the floor, she thought she'd take her chances.

"Uhm, hey, Anya!" Anna greeted her. The addressed redhead glanced up. It took her a moment, but then her face lit up in recognition.

"Oh, hey there, Anna!" she responded with a smile.

"Uhm, do you mind if I sit with you?" asked Anna tentatively. "I'm sorry, I just can't find an open seat anywhere right now—it's ridiculously crowded, it's like freaking everyone is here right now, and—" Anya cut her off with a wave of her hand, gesturing to the open seat.

"Go right ahead."

"Oh, thanks!" said Anna gratefully as she set down her precariously balanced meal.

"It's not a problem. Always happy to help a fellow brass player out of a pinch." Absentmindedly, Anya reached to the back of her head to take off the hair elastic that, at this point, hadn't been holding together much. After shaking out her hair a bit, she reached back and tied another quick ponytail. From experience, Anna knew that it wouldn't be long before it had nearly fallen out again and she had to repeat the process. She smiled at this, leading Anya to cock an eyebrow.

"Something funny?" inquired Anastasia. Anna flushed, realizing she'd been staring.

"Oh, ah, no, nothing. Sorry. Just spaced out a little bit there," Anna apologized. Anya let out a snort of laughter. There was some awkward silence as Anna attempted to get spaghetti on her fork without making too much of a mess—something she was never entirely good at. Opposite her, Anya was doing the same thing without any trouble at all. Despite Anna's best efforts, her next mouthful resulted in a strand of spaghetti dangling from her mouth, which she hurriedly slurped up. This, however, did not go unnoticed by Anastasia, who made no attempt to stifle her laughter. Anna scowled.

"Okay, whatever, I can't eat spaghetti with any grace at all, moving on," drolled Anna with a dismissive wave of her hand. Anya winked at her.

"It's fine. I mean, I was schooled in all the proper ways of being formal and whatnot, but I sometimes choose to ignore them myself." After saying this, Anya picked up a buffalo wing from her plate and bit into it forcefully. When she removed it from her face, sauce was smeared around her lips. Anya winked, leading Anna to giggle. "It's hardly any fun being a lady all of the time."

"At least you know how," Anna voiced, once again returning to the arduous task of getting pasta on her fork. "My parents never taught me any of this."

"Oh, well, my parents didn't teach me any of this, either. That I remember, at least." At Anna's confused expression, Anya continued. "My parents passed away when I was very young."

Anna's dropped both her jaw and fork in surprise, the latter causing her to give a started yelp. "O-oh, geeze, I'm so sorry, I had no idea," she apologized hurriedly.

"Hey, don't worry about it, you couldn't have known. It happened a long time ago. I hardly remember them anyways." It was spoken with such a casual air, as if she were discussing the weather. Anna stared at her dumbly for a few more moments, entirely unsure of what to say. There were lots of questions flying through her head, most of which were probably entirely inappropriate, but Anna's curiosity was insatiable. Anya, seeming to pick up on Anna's unspoken dilemma, continued. "I spent a lot of time in foster care growing up, but I was eventually re-united with my grandmother. She promptly began to introduce me into the ways of being a fancy lady." She scoffed. "Don't get me wrong, I love her dearly, and she's the reason I was able to get my life back on track and attend university, but the life in fancy dresses isn't for me. Maybe it could have been, once upon a time, but…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "With how things turned out, not so much. I grew up in a world so far from being a lady, and some habits are a bit hard to break."

The reveal of such personal information had left Anna flabbergasted, her mouth still slightly agape. "Close your mouth, you might catch a fly," chided Anastasia, a wry smile on her face. Anna promptly snapped her jaw shut, her cheeks tinged slightly pink. The older girl leaned back in her chair. "Your turn," she stated.

Anna blinked in confusion. "My turn?" she repeated.

Anastasia nodded, gesturing toward Anna with her fork. "Your turn. I shared something about my life, now it's your move." A playful smirk crossed her features. "I don't just share stories for free, you know."

"Oh, no, I-I wouldn't expect you to!" _Why the hell are you so socially incompetent? Can you please make it through conversations without stuttering and blushing like an idiot?_ "I, well, uhm, I mean my life has never been all that exciting, really."

"Come on. I'm sure you've got something."

Anna gulped, thinking back on her kisses with Elsa. The image of the blonde drum major brushing a lock of copper hair out of her face and leaning in to kiss her flashed through her head, causing her blush to further.

"I mean, I'm the type of person who gets excited by the fact that when you add mentos to coke, you get a giant soda geyser. Hardly the type of person who has any interesting stories," explained Anna, attempting to push away the memory dancing through her head. After looking thoughtful for a moment, she continued. "Well, I guess there was the time that Kristoff decided to prank me by handing me a bottle of coke where he'd tied a mento to a string and hidden it under the cap so that it'd fall into my coke when I opened it. But, see, he's like, horrifically bad at lying, and I could tell something was up when he handed me the bottle, so I instead aimed it at him when I opened it, and the resulting jet of coke shot right at his face." She paused, thinking back. "He was so angry, but I couldn't take him seriously at all with coke dripping from his face like that. And, I mean, it was all his fault, really." Finished with her tale, Anna looked back over to Anya, who was still leaning back in her chair, an amused expression on her face as she once again made no attempt to hide a snort of laughter. It wasn't the expression that Elsa wore when she was listening to Anna talk about herself. While Elsa's expression was always calm, attentive, and politely inquisitive, Anya's gaze was far more eager and anticipating. The difference was subtle, but still left Anna with an altogether different feeling that she couldn't quite place. Feeling scrutinized under Anya's gaze, Anna felt the need to continue.

"Uhm so yeah." _Great one._

"Quite the articulate one, aren't you?" teased Anya.

Despite her steadily reddening face, Anna felt emboldened. She folded her arms across her chest. "I don't need your sass," she huffed. This was met by laughter from Anastasia.

"Yes, I guess that was hardly ladylike of me." She picked up another wing and bit into it with all the grace of a starving lion cub. "I wholeheartedly apologize," she said between mouthfuls. This time, Anna let out a poorly-concealed snort of laughter.

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they returned to their meals, one occasionally breaking the silence with casual small talk. Eventually, it came time for them to go to rehearsal, so they returned their trays and made their way to the band room, conversing all the while.

"Well, it's been nice getting the chance to talk with you, but I'm going to have to ditch you before my section sees me fraternizing with a trumpet," Anya taunted as they reached the band room, reaching up to her head to adjust her lopsided cap. She merely succeeded in making it tilt at a different angle.

"Well fine, who said I wanted to be seen with you anyways?" Though her words were mocking, Anna's tone was light. It had taken her a remarkably short period of time to feel completely at ease around the older girl. As if she'd been bantering with her for years. Anya proceeded to stick her tongue out in a distinctly unladylike fashion before sauntering to her own section. Anna watched her walk away for a moment before realizing she was staring. She hurriedly ducked her head and headed toward the trumpet section.

Due to the fact that she was looking at the ground, it wasn't until she had her trumpet out of her case and was placing in her mouthpiece that she realized that Elsa was standing nearby, chatting with Flynn.

"It's a ridiculous notion," she was saying, her arms folded across her chest.

"Au contraire! It's perfectly reasonable!" Noticing Anna's arrival, he turned to her for backup. "You're with me on this, right Anna?"

"Uhm, what?"

"C'mon, I'm your section leader, just side with me on this one."

"That's a terrible idea and she knows it," Elsa said with a roll of her eyes, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Well, I mean, if you guys would let me know what you're talking about, maybe I could hold an opinion here," Anna ventured, one hand having moved up to nervously fiddle with her necklace. God, Elsa was making her insides feel like mush.

Elsa's gaze lingered on Anna for a moment before speaking. "This dolt here," she quipped, gesturing toward Flynn, "thinks it's a normal thing to name your instrument."

"Look, I'm blowing her and fingering her all day long, you at least think I'd be polite enough to know her name!" Flynn retorted.

Anna felt her face go beet red at the innuendo while Elsa merely pressed a finger to her temple. "You've given your trumpet a gender," she deadpanned.

"Because my trumpet is very clearly a she!"

"U-uhm, I actually agree with Flynn here," Anna stuttered, recovering from her embarrassed state. Elsa turned her gaze to her, her icy eyes amused.

"You do?" inquired Elsa as Flynn gave a victorious fist pump.

"Y-yeah. I mean, I named my trumpet Olaf a while back," explained Anna with a shrug.

"Olaf?" repeated Elsa, one eyebrow quirked up.

"Yes, Olaf," stated Anna, this time with more confidence. She drew her silver trumpet close to her body. "And he likes warm hugs."

"Of course he does." Elsa's tone was almost mocking, yet at the same time it seemed entirely genuine. "Well, I better get back to the podium. Flynn, I guess I'll buy this whole 'trumpet naming' thing for the time being. But I'm still not entirely convinced." She gave one last look toward Anna, her eyes flicking up and down so fast that Anna nearly hadn't noticed. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she immediately forced herself to return her gaze to the trumpet in her hand lest she give anything away by getting flustered. She thought she heard Flynn chuckle softly, but that noise was soon replaced by the sound of him playing scales to warm up. Anna forced herself to do the same, focusing on the music in front of her and not on the memory of how sweet Elsa's lips had tasted. How her touch sent shivers through her entire body. How her body had felt pressed up close against her own. How…

A piercing whistle blast started Anna from her thoughts. "At-ten-HUT!"

"HUT!"

"Alright, after we warm up, section leaders are going to hand out music for the third show. We won't have a chance to work on it this rehearsal, but I ask that you all take a look at it before the next rehearsal." A few band members openly laughed at this. She gave a scolding look. "Alright, alright, I know that's a lot to expect from you all, but there are a few solos in there, so it's in your best interest to take a look at them if you want to be featured this year." This was followed by a general murmur of agreement. "Right then, let's warm up, then we'll head out to the field to march. Concert B flat scale. One, two, three, four!"

* * *

When Anna got back from rehearsal that night, she'd immediately flopped onto her bed and taken out her phone to play games—pointedly avoiding her homework. She'd been just about to set a new high score in Temple Run when she was distracted by a small vibration and a banner appearing at the top of the screen, indicating a text message. Normally, she'd ignore such a trivial thing and focus on the game, but the particular name that appeared nearly caused her to drop her phone. She was only vaguely aware of the appearance of the game over screen as she stared dumbly at her phone.

_Elsa._

All at once, her senses came back to her, and she hurriedly pressed the combination of buttons required to take her to her texts. Feeling slightly giddy, she opened the text. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but this most certainly hadn't been it.

_"Okay so answer me this and answer it honestly: how hurt would you be if you saw me making out with someone else?"_

She blinked in surprise several times at the message, attempting to process what she meant. The seed of hope in her was causing her heartbeat to rise. Excited thoughts were beginning to fly through her head. _This is your chance. This is your chance to have something—anything with her. You play this right and she'll kiss you again. She'll hold you close and kiss you and make everything in the world seem absolutely incredible._

Anna thought hard on the question presented her. Considering she had no expectations of anything happening between her and Elsa (despite the times they'd kissed, Anna was always certain never to forget how adamant Elsa was about the futility of a relationship between them), the idea of Elsa making out with someone else didn't bother her too much… that is, as long as she got to kiss Elsa, too.

After taking a bit to gather her thoughts, Anna typed up a response. "_You've said there won't be anything between us and I understand that. You have a right to do whatever you want. It's your senior year! I guess I'd be a bit sad because I've really liked the moments we've had together, and I'd figure that would mean no more of those, but I wouldn't be hurt or anything, I promise."_ She read it over once, she read it over twice. She read each letter over countless times, treating it with as much meticulous care as a lawyer going over a contract. Everything in her told her that this had to be perfectly phrased, perfectly done. Because there was a chance. There was a chance for something. Hope had ignited in her heart, and it was making her fingers tremble. Finally deciding that she'd waited long enough to deliver a response, Anna pressed the send button. The entire next minute was spent nervously staring at her phone until it once again vibrated. It took her several tries to tap in her passcode with her shaking fingers, but eventually Elsa's response lit up the screen.

_"Well, certainly nothing can happen while I'm your drum major. Other than that I'm just not going to want anything that's not casual. I've liked the moments we've had together as well but I need you to know that I can't do the exclusive, committed thing and I don't want you to ever be hurt by that."_

The hope that had once been a small candle was now glowing even brighter in her chest. This was more than she'd ever dared to hope for. She'd convinced herself that Elsa hardly thought much of their encounters, but she was obviously mistaken. Elsa had been thinking about it all just as much as Anna had. _Play it cool, Anna. Be interested, but not overexcited. _After taking a breath to steel herself, Anna typed up a response.

_"That's something I totally understand. The only reason I would be upset if I saw you making out with someone else is if it meant no more awesome moments. If those could still happen, then you really can do whatever you want and I'd be fine. Honestly, I don't even know if I'm up for the committed thing myself. I would be perfectly happy with something super casual sometime in the future."_

What casual even meant in this context, Anna was not entirely sure. She just knew it was something. And something with Elsa was infinitely better than nothing with Elsa.

This time, Elsa's response caused her to drop her phone in surprise. Since she was lying on her back with her phone above her, this resulted in the small object striking her face. After letting out a yelp of annoyance, she snatched her phone back and re-read the text, just to make sure she hadn't been mistaken.

_"Well let's see where we're at in a month then, shall we? :-)" _

A month. In one month, the marching season would be over, which would mean that Elsa would no longer be her drum major. She'd said earlier that nothing could happen while she was Anna's drum major, but in a month… in a month everything would be different.

By now, the hope was a blazing fire that threatened to consume her every thought. Elsa, amazing, incredible, Elsa, was willing to be hers. Okay, casually hers. But she could live with that. She could wait a month for that. God, it didn't matter how long she had to wait because this was _Elsa._ Elsa, the leader. Elsa, the exasperated freshman percussionist from the photo. Elsa, the one who had worn Anna's flower in her hair. Elsa, the one who had kissed her so tenderly that the entire world had melted around her.

Her train of thought abruptly stopped when she realized she had yet to type a response. After staring at the screen blankly for a while, she typed up a short message. _"Sounds good to me :)"_

Elsa's reply came quickly. _"Wonderful. Alright, then, I think I'm going to go to bed. Good night, beautiful." _

Anna felt her face go bright red at the last sentence. She was extremely thankful that her roommate had a habit of studying with a group of men from down the hall and, thus, was not currently in the room to see her flustered state. _Beautiful? I… but I'm not… people never call me beautiful. _Her heat was racing, flying, soaring. How one person had the power to do this to her was beyond her understanding, but she found herself rather enjoying the sensation. _"Good night :)" _was the response Anna sent back after spending nearly a minute trying to decide on a term of endearment that wouldn't come across as bizarre, eventually substituting it for a smiley face. After sending the text, Anna clutched her phone to her chest, breathing heavily.

Every time she thought she was beginning to understand Elsa, she found herself surprised. The girl was truly a mystery. An impossibly interesting (and attractive—that certainly didn't hurt) mystery who, for some absurd reason, had taken interest in a terrifically uninteresting trumpet freshman. Not that she was complaining.

Anna re-read the text conversation. And she re-read it again and again until she'd committed every line to memory, still unable to believe that it had occurred. _Still unable to believe any of this occurred, _she admitted to herself. _Nothing interesting ever happens to me, and now… now all of this! _

Once again holding her phone above her, she switched to check her email. She was greeted by a new message from Flynn.

_"Hey, trumpets! Hope none of you have plans for this Friday, because I've already decided I'm taking up your time. All I ask is that you all drop by Trumpet House around 10:30. Oh, and I'd advise bringing a sheet, because it would be difficult to make a toga without one. Whoops, did I say toga? Well good because I totally meant to say toga. It's time to show off our glorious trumpet might—and style! That's all for now, and you better not let me down!_

_ -Flynn."_

_A toga party, huh?_ Anna thought to herself, amused. _Well, that's a cliché, but I'm sure it's a cliché for a reason… hmmm, I wonder what Elsa would look like in a toga. _Her head was instantly filled with a picture of the blonde drum major draped in a rather revealing sheet that only barely covered _certain_ features. Embarrassed by her own thoughts, Anna rolled over and shoved her face into her pillow.

"One month," she mumbled to herself, her voice muffled by the pillow. "Just one month until she's no longer my drum major. How hard can that be?"

Anna knew the answer to that question, but refused to admit it to herself.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Sorry this chapter was so short after such a long wait… but I assure you I have a lot planned for the next chapter. _


	10. Togas and Schoolgirls

_**A/N**__: So thanks for sticking with me, guys, despite spotty updates. I promise I have full intentions of finishing this tale, even if the updates may be a bit slow. All of this attention never ceases to amaze me, and all of the fanart (oh my god I still can't believe that I have gotten fanart) blows me away. Speaking of which, the cover photo for the fic is by the fantastically talented cosmokyrin. Also, I assure you that I read and get excited by every single review (I'm so sorry I no longer realistically have the time to reply to all of them—school and band and whatnot), and am continuously delighted by any show of attention this fic gets. Enjoy!_

* * *

"What's up?"

"I, uh, well, I…" _Crap, not again. You weren't going to be a stuttery mess this time. _Anna took a deep breath and tried again. "I just, uhm, was wondering where we're at."

Elsa's polite smile didn't falter. "Right now, we're just friends."

"Okay. Just friends. Right," Anna repeated. "Okay, cool. Yeah, just checking." Silence hung in the air between the two.

"Is that all?" asked Elsa.

Anna blinked a couple times, visibly trembling. "Oh, yeah, uhm, yeah, I guess that's all." She gave a nervous laugh. "S-sorry I'm all jittery. I swear, I'm not always like this."

"You could have had me fooled," jested Elsa lightheartedly.

"N-no, I mean, I was before, but then I got better. It's the solo—it got me all nervous and jittery and stuttery and…" she trailed off, animatedly waving her hands. "Well, y-you get the idea."

Another pause. "The solo sounded lovely."

"Oh!" Anna ducked her head, averting her eyes to the ground as a blush crept onto her cheeks. "Th-thank you! I can't believe Flynn let me take the solo today. I mean, there are so many other talented trumpets in the section and I'm, y'know, just a freshman." She continued to stare at her hands.

It was earlier that day at rehearsal. The Arendelle University Winter Wolf Marching Band had begun to work on music for their third show—the Broadway show. One of the songs contained a trumpet solo so, naturally, every trumpet was practicing the solo to themselves to get it under their fingers. Anna had no expectations of actually getting to play the solo, but figured it couldn't hurt to practice.

Then the time to run the song had come during rehearsal. From the podium, Elsa had called over to Flynn. "Trumpets, you got the solo covered?" Flynn, looking guilty, had then glanced around at everyone present, clearly having not yet made his decision.

His eyes had then fallen on Anna. "Hey, Anna, you wanna take the solo today?" Anna had blinked in surprise, unable to believe that she was being offered this opportunity.

"Uh, sure," she had said, getting to her feet. When Elsa looked at the section expectantly, Flynn had pointed at Anna and given a thumbs up. Anna wasn't sure, but she swore she'd seen Elsa direct a smile at her before turning to count off the song.

That's about when the trembling had started. It was an old tic she thought she'd shaken back in high school. Taking a solo was always a mix of emotions. On one hand, Anna would be excited at the opportunity to show what she could do. On the other hand, if she were to mess up, she would be beyond embarrassed. Add this to the fact that she was still fairly new to this band and, as such, felt she had to prove herself, and the net result was Anna trembling from head to toe.

The world had died out around her as Elsa counted off the song and she'd begun to play. She could scarcely hear the rest of the band, instead focusing on each individual note that she had to play. After what seemed like forever, she'd finished the solo, and she lowered her trumpet, drawing in several shaky breaths. The trembling hadn't stopped. Even when the song had finished and Flynn had complimented her and given her a pat on the back, she'd still been shaking. She'd given him a weak smile, then glanced up to the podium to see Elsa smiling at her. It was only a moment before the drum major had again looked away to address the band, but it was enough to intensify her trembling enough that she had to sit down.

The rehearsal was over, and Anna was still trembling from the solo. Or so she was telling herself. It wasn't because she was still nervous around Elsa—she'd totally gotten past that. Totally.

"Well, it doesn't matter what year you are as long as you can play well," Elsa said. "And you can most certainly play well."

Anna hunched in on herself even more. Her head quickly turned to face Elsa before once again turning to her shaky hands. "O-oh, I, uhm, well, thanks."

_Goddammit. You were supposed to actually be competent this time._

Anna took another breath before turning and facing Elsa. She was still wearing her characteristic patient smile. "Geeze, I'm sorry for going all…" she again trailed off, waving her arms around as she attempted to search for the proper word. "…Anna on you. Really. I can be socially competent."

"I believe you."

"Ugh, and it just makes it worse, because you're so good about being all polite and nice and patient and being pretty much the calmest person to talk to and I'm _still _doing this whole nervous thing and…" Anna cut herself off, realizing she was beginning to ramble. She cleared her throat before speaking again. "Uhm, well, that's all I really wanted to talk about. Just a check to make sure we're on the same page here."

"Okay," breathed Elsa. That smile. Anna knew Elsa was smiling that way to make herself polite and easy to talk to, but it only seemed to make her melt inside even more. The two held each other's gaze for a while before both turning away and getting to their feet, albeit a bit shakily on Anna's part.

"Uhm, I'll see you later, then," Anna said, making her way to the door of the office.

"See you later," repeated Elsa. After one last glance over her shoulder, Anna exited the office, closing the door behind her. Once the door had shut, she drew in several deep breaths.

_Okay. Just friends. That's what she said. Just for another month. I can do this._

* * *

That evening, Anna stepped through the door (literally) to Trumpet House to find several members of the trumpet section already dressed in togas and lounging about.

"Ah, the freshmen are here!" greeted Flynn, drink in hand. Anna made no attempt to stifle a laugh. The section leader was dressed in a gaudy pink and purple tie-dye sheet. Flynn looked at Anna and smirked. "Jealous of my toga, I see."

"Sure. Jealousy. That's what we'll call it," snarked Anna with a smirk.

Flynn scoffed. "I look great and you know it. Now, hurry up and get changed into your togas so you can start drinking before we head out."

"Head out where?" inquired Anna.

"Oh, did I not tell you guys?" asked Flynn. The trumpet freshmen all shook their heads. "Whoops. Oh, well, tonight we're going to be traveling to Sax House. You see, every year the saxes hold a party with the clarinets where the girls dress up as catholic schoolgirls and the guys… well, frequently they also go as catholic school girls, which never ceases to be an interesting sight. Traditionally, all of the other sections show up as midnight dressed in all sorts of things. Trumpets, being the best, show up in togas," explained Flynn, as if it were the most logical thing in the world. Anna had clearly been spending far too much time around him, as she didn't even question his logic for a second.

"This sounds great," stated Merida, a wicked smile on her face. "C'mon, Anna, I'll help ye get your toga on."

After stripping down to a tank top and shorts, Anna allowed Merida to drape her in a white sheet. "How is it that you know how to do this?" asked Anna as Merida tossed part of the sheet over her shoulder.

"M'brothers," she replied by way of explanation. "Bunch of hooligans, really, with a flair for getting in trouble." A small smirk crossed her features. "Though sometimes, admittedly, their idiotic antics are rather fun. 'Specially when my mum is being all…" Here she rolled her eyes for lack of an adequate word. "Well, anyways, looks like you're all good." She stepped away from Anna to admire her handiwork. "Aye, perfection right there. Now quick and help me get into mine."

Anna's efforts to tie the toga, even with the guidance of Merida, were slightly clumsier. Nevertheless, Merida was eventually successfully dressed in a deep green sheet.

"Fantastic! Now have a beer," Flynn said, handing cans out to Merida and Anna. "We march at midnight!"

Everyone slipped into usual routines of playing drinking games as they waited for midnight to arrive so they could head out. Gaston loudly remarked on the fact that Belle was noticeably absent from this gathering, claiming that she was a boring bookworm who didn't know how to have any fun. Or didn't know who a real man was.

"She's rejected him time and time again," explained Flynn. "And the idiot still refuses to get the message. But you didn't hear that from me. Since I'm a responsible section leader and whatnot." This was immediately followed by a swig of his drink.

"Yeah, sure, responsible," jibed Anna with the raise of an eyebrow.

"Well, as responsible as a trumpet can get," he remarked with a shrug and another swig.

When it was finally midnight, the section had all drank a reasonable amount. "Trumpets, to Sax House!" directed Flynn, slurring his words slightly. The slightly-inebriated section made its way out the door and onto the road, some members leaning on others for support as they stumbled down the sidewalk. Anna was acutely aware of how absurd they looked, a group of people walking around in bed sheets, but she was also aware of the fact that she didn't entirely care.

Somewhere between two and ten minutes later, the travelers found themselves at the door to Sax House. Without so much as a knock, Flynn opened the door, shouting, "TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!" It only took a couple seconds before the rest of the trumpet section joined in, flooding through the door. It was brash, it was childish, it was immature. So, basically, it was everything that defined a trumpet.

Rapunzel came over to meet them at the door. Anna's eyes widened as she took in the sight of the older girl. Of course, she'd thought of Rapunzel as pretty from the moment they'd met, but as she was now in a black short skirt and knee-high socks…

_Stop gawking at her. Wrong blonde._

Anna glanced up from Rapunzel's legs to see that the girl's face was tinged red, a dopey smile on her face. "Eugeeeeene!" she slurred, leaning forward and giving her boyfriend a hug. "'Bout time you showed up."

His countenance brightened immediately as he gazed at his girlfriend. "Sorry, blondie." She giggled and gave him a quick kiss before turning to the other newcomers.

"Welcome to Sax House! Punch is that way, there's beer in the fridge over there and…" she trailed off, thinking hard. "Oh, there was something else I wanted to say, but it probably wasn't important. Go have fun!" She gave a quick wave, then dragged her smiling boyfriend after her to the dance floor.

Having now had a minute or two to situate herself, Anna began to take in everything around her. As foreshadowed by Flynn, most of the girls present were members of the saxophone or clarinet section and, thus, were dressed in outfits among the lines of a short skirt and a button down shirt. And, as Anna's face heated up, she soon discovered that this outfit was something she found very, very attractive. In order to avoid staring, she quickly moved her attention to the men of the room. While some were simply dressed in khakis and a button down, others, Anna noted with a chuckle, had also taken on the skirt and stockings attire. Sprinkled amongst these guests were students dressed in all black with strips of cloth tried around their head. When Anna realized that Kristoff was one of them, she concluded that the people in all black must be members of the trombone section. Noticing Anna's glance, Kristoff waved and bounded over to her.

"Took you all long enough to get here," he said bringing her into a bone-crushing hug. His breath smelled heavily of alcohol. "C'mon, this one of the best parties of the year. Get yourself a drink." One hearty pat on the back later and he'd slipped back into the crowd. Grinning, Anna followed him, heading in the direction of the punch bowl. Before she could get there, however, her eyes fell on a particular blonde haired drum major.

This time, her jaw flat out dropped. Elsa, like the members of the clarinet and saxophone sections, was dressed in a catholic schoolgirl outfit. She was wearing a short (_really, did she have to wear a skirt that short? Was that entirely necessary?_) red plaid skirt that made her legs run on forever. Anna slowly worked her eyes upwards to see that Elsa was wearing a white, button down shirt (_oh, she can wear the short skirt but she's got to button up the shirt practically to the top_) with a loose black tie. Her hair was tied back in its characteristic braid, bangs dangling lightly in front of her face.

Anna couldn't bring herself to look away. There was something about this outfit that was… just extremely _sexy_ to Anna. There was no other way to put it. _I mean, Elsa is always beautiful and incredible but this outfit… this outfit…_

She was jolted out of her thoughts by a smack on the head. Rubbing the now-sore spot, she turned to face Kristoff. "Anna, you useless lesbian, c'mon," he grunted good-naturedly, handing her a cup of punch.

"Not lesbian," she corrected. "Bi."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Drink the booze." After quirking an eyebrow at him, she complied, giving the slightest of winces from the taste.

"Better than usual," she commented.

"That's because it's not Trumpet House."

"Hey! Was that a jibe at the trumpets?"

"Probably," he said, his attempts at nonchalance ruined by the growing grin on his face. "Drink the booze." Anna obliged again.

"What, you trying to get me drunk?" she inquired with a playful smirk.

"Yup. Drink the booze."

After taking another sip, Anna asked, "Why?"

"You're less of a socially awkward bumbling mess when you're drunk." This comment resulted in a soft punch to Kristoff's shoulder. "Owwwww," he whined, rubbing his arm. "What was that for?"

"For being rude," stated Anna, though she couldn't help but admit the truthfulness of his words. Bad as it was, alcohol definitely helped her to calm her nerves and become less jittery. It was certainly not something she ever wanted to rely on, but she couldn't deny its positive effects.

"Drink the booze," repeated Kristoff.

"Okay, fine, fine," she said, finishing her cup. Even as she did so, she felt the slight haze of drunkenness begin to cloud her mind. "And why is it," she began, slightly slower than usual, "that you happen to be interested in me being a slightly less socially awkward mess?"

Kristoff glanced over her shoulder. "So I feel a little less guilty about doing this." Before Anna could understand what he was saying, Kristoff had turned her around and shoved her. After emitting a small, quite unladylike curse, Anna collided into another body. Anna knew her luck well enough to know who it was before even looking up.

"Elsa," Anna stated flatly, her face in Elsa's shoulder. _She smells so nice… Like a fresh snowfall._

"Anna," greeted Elsa. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Oh, you know, just being the usual mess that I am," she said, reluctantly removing her nose from Elsa's shirt. She giggled nervously. Alcohol could only help protect her so much from the nervousness that resulted from the immense proximity to Elsa.

Elsa smiled at her fondly. "You're doing fine, dear."

Realizing that she'd probably resort to staring if she stopped talking, Anna decided to side with the lesser of two evils. "So, why are you dressed like this anyways? I thought that was only a saxophone and clarinet thing."

"Well, as the drum major, I get a little bit of leeway," answered Elsa. "The drumline doesn't generally make an effort to come to this party, but Rapunzel really wanted me here, so I decided to go in the style of the sax section."

_Well, you look hot._

Elsa raised a hand to her mouth to cover a laugh. "Why thank you."

_Crap, did I say that one out loud?_

Anna's face flushed out of embarrassment and she ducked her head—which only resulted in a marvelous view of Elsa's legs, leading her to turn her gaze to the side. She felt Elsa's arm slip around her shoulder, and she glanced up at her in surprise.

"You're cute," she whispered. Anna was only vaguely aware of the scent of alcohol ghosting over her red cheeks as her mind began to spin. It still was yet to be determined which was more intoxicating: the punch, or Elsa.

At that moment, a drunken Flynn staggered over to the two. "Hey there, Elsa, Anna," he greeted, nodding at each of them in turn.

"Hello, Flynn," replied Elsa. He squinted a little bit, glancing back and forth at the two of them.

"You two made out yet?" he said after a pause. Anna's eyes widened as her face turned bright red. Not knowing what else to do, she hid her face in Elsa's shoulder.

"_Flynn_," chided Elsa, warningly. His own eyes widened at this.

"Oh, you guys totally have," he said, his grin growing steadily. "Hah! I knew it, I knew you would—"

"_Flynn._" Elsa's tone grew slightly more threatening. He raised his hands in defeat.

"Alright, alright, I'll leave you two be," he conceded, waggling his eyebrows suggestively one last time before he returned to the crowd.

"Don't let him get to you. He's a bit of an ass sometimes," Elsa said, rubbing Anna's shoulder reassuringly.

"I mean he wasn't wrong, though," Anna mumbled into Elsa's shirt. "Would you… would you be upset if people knew?"

"My only interests lie in protecting you," explained Elsa after a pause. "People in band… they really like to talk. I don't want people talking about you." She paused again. "That sounds weird. I really just want to protect you from the nosey people."

Anna swore her heart skipped a beat. "I told you. You don't have to worry about protecting me."

"That may be so, but you can't keep me from protecting you. I'm always going to be protective of you." This time, Anna's heart freaking _flew._ Elsa's arm slipped away from around Anna. "I'll see you a bit later, yeah?"

"Yeah," agreed Anna, a dreamy expression on her face. Elsa again giggled at this before retreating into the crowd.

Anna found herself surrounded by a blur of bandies. As the night wore on, she continued to have more sips of the punch, and the haze on her mind began to settle further. She danced, sang loudly and off key (along with most of the people present), and generally enjoyed herself. Some time later, Flynn suggested going to the nearby food truck for drunk food. Anna decided that a sandwich sounded like the best possible thing right now, and gladly agreed. It wasn't until the food truck party was out the door before she realized that Elsa was a member of their group.

Without thinking, Anna sidled over to Elsa and placed an arm around her waist. Looking slightly surprised, though not unpleased, Elsa slid her own arm around Anna's shoulder.

"Hi," mumbled Anna.

"Hi," breathed Elsa. The pair continued to walk down the sidewalk in that manner, a couple steps behind the rest of the group. Though Anna was attempting to focus on each individual stride in order to ensure that she wouldn't trip, Elsa's proximity sought to distract her every step along the way. Each little stumble was met with laughter and support from Elsa. After one particularly large stumble, Anna gushed apologies as Elsa simply laughed and kissed her gently on the forehead.

"You're doing fine, honey," she whispered, taking Anna's hand in hers and resuming walking. Stunned into silence, Anna followed like a trained puppy.

When the group reached the food truck, Elsa let go of Anna's hand, smiling apologetically as she headed to the ordering window.

A minute or so later, Anna made her way to the open window, squinting as she attempted to make out the menu. _Urgh. Reading. Difficult. _

"Uhm… I'll have a… chipotle chicken sub," declared Anna. The man in the window gave a grunt of acknowledgement before moving to make her sandwich. _Hah. He totally doesn't know I'm drunk. You go, Anna, you winner, you._

Anywhere between five and ten minutes later (keeping track of time was far less important when drunk), Anna was presented with her sub, which she eagerly took and opened. One bite into it had her humming with delight. _The perfect drunk food. _

The rest of the group had sprawled around on the nearby grass as they feasted upon their meals, and Anna couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous they all looked. Most of them were trumpets, and were thus dressed in an assortment of coloured sheets. _Though I'm sure I look just as preposterous, but that's beside the point._

By the time Anna had finished her own sub, Elsa was only a little over halfway through hers. "Wow that was quick," remarked Elsa.

Anna brought a hand up to her face, brushing back a lock of hair. "Uhm, yeah, well, I really like sandwiches and, I mean, I'm also drunk, soooo..."

Elsa laughed. "Well, if you like them so much, why don't you finish mine?"

"Me? Finish your sandwich?" Elsa nodded. "Are you sure?"

Elsa nodded again, smiling. "I'm sure." Not needing any more encouragement, Anna took Elsa's sandwich and enthusiastically finished it up just as the rest of their party finished up. Satisfied with their drunken meals, the bandies resumed their adventure.

As time wore on, members of the group began to defect as they headed to their own homes. Anna had asked Elsa if her stop was coming up soon, to which Elsa shook her head. "I'm walking you home." Anna thought about protesting her chivalry, but then decided it wasn't worth the effort, for she was rather pleased with this turn of events.

When they reached the edge of campus, there were only four of them remaining. Eric was a few steps in front of them, supporting a wobbly Ariel. Anna couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed—Ariel and she lived in the same dorm, so that mean that she and Elsa wouldn't get any alone time, as the four would all be walking in the same direction.

_Not that alone time between the two of us would mean anything. We're just friends. Just…_

Anna's thoughts were interrupted when Elsa suddenly dragged Anna off in a different direction than Ariel and Eric, a wicked smile on her face. "Elsa, what…" began Anna, but she was unable to complete her thought when Elsa abruptly turned around and kissed her fervently. A wave of pleasure washed over Anna as she closed her eyes, leaning into the kiss. When Elsa pulled away, she had a dreamy smile on her face. Anna's expression was somewhere between surprise and ecstasy. Without another word, Elsa took her hand again and resumed walking. Anna silently followed.

"Ask me something," Elsa finally said.

"Huh?"

"Ask me something," repeated Elsa, turning back to face Anna. After looking thoughtful for a moment, she then leaned in and kissed Anna again. "I feel like I know more about you than you know about me, and I want to fix that."

"Oh," said Anna lamely, still recovering from the kiss and trying to get her still-inebriated mind in order. "Uhm, I'm bad at thinking of questions."

"What's your favourite place?" Elsa asked, resuming walking, her fingers still entwined with Anna's. "Not just here at Arendelle University. Anywhere. Where's your place… the place where you feel most like you."

Anna blinked, thinking back. "There's… this hill in my town," she began. "At the top, there's this sundial. I always thought it was so cool. I used to sneak out and climb to that top of the hill all of the time and just sit there and look out at the world. It used to almost always be with Kristoff, but after he left for Arendelle University, it was just me. And, I mean, that was okay. It was enough to sit there and be reminded of all the memories that place held as I looked out at the world." She paused, biting her lip in thought. "I dunno if it's my favourite place ever, or even the place where I feel most like me, but it sticks out in my mind, and that's the best I've got."

Elsa directed another smile at her. "It sounds lovely." She turned her head forward again. "For me, there was this mountain a couple miles away from my house. Whenever I was feeling particularly upset or overwhelmed, I would walk up there. It was a bit of a walk, but it was always worth it. I'd set up a little fort there, and sometimes I'd pitch up a tent and just stay there for the night."

"Didn't your parents wonder where you were?" inquired Anna. Elsa gave a shrug.

"They didn't mind. They understood." The two fell into silence again, before Elsa once again broke it. "Your turn."

"Huh?"

"Your turn to come up with a question."

Anna thought on this for a moment before saying, "If you could have any superpower, what would it be?"

Elsa laughed. "I don't know why, but I've always thought that control over snow and ice would be fascinating. Sure, ice can be brutal and dangerous, but it also has a beauty to it. And you?"

"The ability to fly," answered Anna without hesitation. "That would just be the most incredible thing in the world, to be able to soar." She was only vaguely aware of the fact that she'd gotten so excited in her gesturing that she'd let go of Elsa's hand. "To just… pretend you're free from this earth for a bit. To be able to gaze out at everything and to feel the wind in your face…" she trailed off when she realized that Elsa was staring at her, an amused expression on her face. "What?"

Elsa kissed her by means of answer. "You're adorable," she breathed, her lips still on Anna's.

"So about that just friends thing," mumbled Anna. Elsa laughed again.

"You and I… we'll never be just friends," said Elsa, once again taking Anna's hand and beginning to walk. _Well, so much for the "just friends" thing earlier today._ After a moment, Elsa's expression fell. "I just so don't want to hurt you."

At this, Anna quickly jerked her hand away. "Now stop that!" she demanded with an indignant huff, crossing her arms. "I've told you that you don't have to look out for me."

The amused glint had once again returned to Elsa's eyes as she sauntered over to Anna, glancing down at her. She kissed her again. "There's a lot about me you don't know," she whispered. "Reasons that would make you turn away from me."

"You're wrong," stated Anna, wrapping her arms around Elsa. "I wouldn't stop liking you just because of some mistake you've made in the past. The past is in the past. I'm focused on the present. What's real right now."

Elsa chuckled humorlessly. "You're far too good for me." This one took Anna by surprise. Elsa the perfect, Elsa the leader, Elsa the beautiful, gorgeous drum major… thought Anna was too good for her? How did that make any sense at all?

"You're wrong," repeated Anna. She wanted to reach up and kiss Elsa, but she was still too scared. Too scared that anything she did at any moment would cause Elsa to wake up and realize that she wanted nothing to do with Anna. So instead she just held Elsa's gaze, the only sound they could hear that of each other's breaths. Once again, Elsa closed the gap between them, her tender lips meeting Anna's. She slid her arm up and down Elsa's back, bringing her closer, while the older girl's hand rose to tangle in Anna's hair. Anna's lips parted slightly, allowing Elsa's tongue to enter. Anna felt her knees grow weak again—just as they had earlier that day when she'd been taking a solo. Except this time her emotion was simply pure ecstasy. Anna nearly whimpered from the loss when Elsa finally pulled away, the dreamy smile returned to her face. Once again, she took Anna's hand and resumed walking.

"I've made a lot of mistakes in my past," admitted Elsa after a pause. "Done things I shouldn't have. Kissed people I shouldn't have." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I lost myself for a while a few years ago."

"Well, that was a few years ago," insisted Anna. "And this is now. You've learned from your mistakes, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then that's all that matters," stated Anna, as if that finalized everything. She glanced up to see that they'd once again arrived at Anna's dorm too soon for her liking. Elsa turned to face her.

"I guess that's that," she said before giving another sad chuckle. "I hadn't meant to kiss you tonight."

"Well, that one clearly worked out for you," Anna jibed, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Elsa's expression soon mirrored her own.

"It's your fault. You're just too irresistible." At this, Elsa brought Anna into a hug. They both stayed that way for a while, breathing in each other's scent. Anna was suddenly aware of how absurd they must look—a girl in a bed sheet and another dressed in a schoolgirl's uniform hugging in front of a dorm. It was surely a ridiculous sight.

Once again, when they went to pull away, they simply only got about halfway there, instead resting their foreheads on one another's. "Do you want to kiss me?" asked Elsa. Anna nodded, causing Elsa's lips to curl into a smile. "Then go for it." Without hesitating, Anna rose to the tips of her feet in order to press her lips to Elsa's. When they broke from the kiss, Elsa smiled and reached up to Anna's face, her thumb affectionately tracing circles on her cheek. "I should go," she whispered.

"No," mumbled Anna, unwilling to let go of this moment, trying to think of any excuse she could to prolong it. Suddenly, it came to her. "Wait, you still haven't heard me play piano." Elsa blinked. "There's a piano practice room in the basement of my dorm… just stay for a bit longer so I can play you a song." Elsa's eyes began to twinkle.

"Okay," she breathed. This time, Anna took Elsa's hand and dragged her along. After a quick card swipe to gain access to the dorm, Anna led Elsa down a flight of stairs and through a door to a small room that held nothing but a grand piano and a bench. She quickly stumbled to the bench and sat down, gesturing for Elsa to sit beside her.

As Anna looked at the piano, she realized that she was still drunker than she thought, as the songs she had memorized weren't coming back to her as easily as they normally did. With a sigh, she set her fingers to the keys and began to play. She was definitely slightly out of practice (and, more noticeably, definitely slightly drunk), but she played the melodies more or less correctly all the same, a smile on her face. When she'd finished, she glanced over at Elsa, who was smiling at her. "That sounded lovely," she said, leaning over to kiss Anna. After she pulled away from the kiss, Elsa placed her slender fingers on the piano and began to play.

Anna's jaw dropped in shock. "You play piano, too?"

Elsa nodded. "Yes. It was my first instrument, too."

"Why didn't you mention it earlier?"

She shrugged. "You didn't ask." Anna watched enviously as Elsa's fingers danced across the keys, making far fewer mistakes than Anna had.

"You're so much better than me," Anna sighed, looking down at her hands. _So much for impressing her with the piano._ Elsa stopped playing and reached over to take Anna's hands in hers.

"But you could do what I could never do. I could never play with emotion. I've only ever been able to go through the motions, to play precisely what was written, but you… you bring life to your music." Elsa's fingers were now tracing lines on Anna's palm, causing her to shudder. Elsa placed a soft kiss on Anna's cheek, than redirected her attention to the piano. "Play something else."

As Anna once again brought her fingers to the keys, she recalled how she'd sent Elsa one of the original songs she'd written. _God, I hope I remember how to play this one right now._ After taking a breath, she began to play. Her fingers glided across the keys, hitting the occasional wrong note here and there but Elsa didn't seem to mind. When she had finished, she turned to Elsa expectantly, to find that the older girl's eyes were shining with complete and total adoration. "You have no idea how many times I've listened to that," she confessed, her voice barely above a whisper. Overcome with affection, Anna leaned over and pressed her lips firmly to Elsa's, her hand reaching up to tangle in Elsa's hair. This time, when they broke apart, both of their breaths were coming in short gasps.

"You," breathed Elsa, "are making this thing so difficult."

Anna grinned. "Sorry, but I'm not altogether sorry." She yanked the tie around Elsa's neck, bringing her in for a kiss.

"Now that one was hardly fair. You're not wearing a tie," remarked Elsa.

"Nope. Just a bed sheet."

"Your taste in fashion really leaves something to be desired." Anna laughed again and leaned in to kiss her again. And again.

It was very abruptly that Elsa got to her feet. "It's getting rather late," she observed. "I should be getting home."

Anna attempted to hide the disappointment from her face as she followed suit. "Alright, then I guess I'll just walk you outside—" She once again found herself interrupted as Elsa suddenly grasped her and pushed her against the wall, pinning her arms to the side as she kissed her fiercely. Her entire body was pressed up close to Anna's, and Anna was suddenly very grateful for the wall behind her, because she was certain her legs were turning to jelly. Her head was swimming, and, when Elsa leaned forward, pressing her leg between Anna's, she let out an involuntary moan.

Elsa finally broke away from the kiss, though she still kept Anna's arms pinned to the side. Smiling, she placed a kiss on Anna's forehead. "I'll see myself out. Good night, beautiful. See you at rehearsal."

"Good night," Anna managed after a pause. She swore she heard Elsa chuckle as she exited, closing the door behind her. Finally, Anna's legs gave way and she sank to the floor, all of the events of the past day flying around in her head faster than she could process. All of the kisses (and there had certainly been a lot of them), all of the things that were said. She struggled to commit it all to memory, as much as her still-drunken mind protested.

After she'd regained control of herself, Anna got to her feet. She was still trembling slightly, but it was down to a manageable amount. Wearily, she made her way out of the practice room and up the stairs to her room, her thoughts of the day slowing down bit by bit as exhaustion began to overtake her. When she'd finally made it to her bed, the last image in her head as she drifted off to sleep was that of the smiling blonde drum major, her eyes twinkling in adoration.


End file.
